Victor Michael West, a carver of mixed Tlingit, Cree, and Irish ancestry, belongs to the Raven Moiety of the Tlingit Nation and now makes his home on Vancouver Island in Nuu-chah-nulth territory. This paddle carries the presence of both wood and story. The blade holds a Raven in low relief, its form painted in bold passages of red and black. On the shaft, a human hand clasps a salmon-trout head, the carving and pigments echoing the same palette with quiet intensity. The body of the paddle is shaped from old growth red cedar, its grain running like ripples of water along the length. At the top, the grip transforms into a soul catcher in yellow cedar, a luminous contrast to the darker wood below. Every surface carries both touch and vision, a work meant to be held as much as seen.

Christopher W. Smith with First Arts