Born and raised in Lax Kwʼalaams (previously Port Simpson), British Columbia, Frederick Alexcee spent most of his life in or near his home community. In addition to creating model poles, model canoes, and paddles, Alexcee was also a fabulous painter who made landscape paintings depicting his life and the rapid changes occurring in Tsimshian Territory. Two of his paintings were included in an exhibition of Western Canadian art at the National Gallery of Canada in 1927. [1] Perhaps Alexcee’s best known artwork is the large angel baptismal font (A1776 a-c) now housed in the UBC Museum of Anthropology.

This ladle combines Alexcee’s Tsimshian style of carving and formline with a painting technique that utilizes non-conventional colours and more recalls his landscape art. The overall shape of the ladle is customarily Tsimshian, with a raven figure biting and grasping the end of the handle. There is a formline raven painted in the bowl and the handle and raven figure are both covered in Alexcee’s signature style of formline elements in red, black, and green. There is a very similar example for comparison in the collection of the MOA (A2107). There is some loss to the tip of the bowl.

1. Frederick Alexcee biography. UBC Museum of Anthropology catalogue. http://collection-online.moa.ubc.ca/search/person?person=56&tab=biography. Accessed April 4, 2024.

Christopher W. Smith