Tom Eneas was a Coast Salish artist based in Vancouver, BC. He studied carving under ‘Namgis master carver Kevin Cranmer (1967-) for 8 months in 1994. [1] For much of his career, Eneas worked in Gitxsan and Nisga’a styles of carving and was heavily influenced by the Tait family of carvers. This mask is no exception and depicts an anthropomorphic killer whale in a Northern/Nisga’a style. There is a human face in the blowhole with pegged in hair and a crouching human body folded into the dorsal fin on the top of the head, completing the whale riding imagery. The mask is carved in red cedar and sparingly painted in red and black, all of which is framed by a long mane of shredded red cedar bark strips.

1. Tom Eneas Mask. Bill Reid Gallery. https://billreidgallery.pastperfectonline.com/bycreator?keyword=Tom+Eneas. Accessed 28 Jan 2025.

— Christopher W. Smith