Salish 

50 creative works found

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  Thunderbird
  by Mark Gauti

  This is a Thunderbird done in traditional Pacific Northwest Coast Native Style

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  Sun
  by Mark Gauti

  This is a Sun done in Haida/Coast Salish Style art.

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  Great Blue Heron
  by Mark Gauti

  This is a great Blue Heron done in haida/coast salish style and is often called the watcher by Coast Salish tribes. Before the European contact in the Pacific Northwest coast wars were waged between many of the different tribes so there was always the threat of a village being raided. Most Coast Salish villages are located at a mouth of a salmon bearing river which also happens to be a habitat for blue herons so villages would have these birds located outside in the water. The herons would act as an alarm system and start flying and squawking if a war canoe or anything else was approaching the village. I decided to draw this because the other day I witnessed this happened while I was collecting water samples of the river for my work and as soon as the heron seen me it turned around flew the opposite way and warned all the other animals that a human was approaching the river. My tribe T’Sou-ke have a song to honor this bird for thier help in the protection of our villages over the many years.

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  Halibut
  by Mark Gauti

  A halibut done in pacific northwest coast native style

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  Grasshopper
  by Mark Gauti

  Grasshopper done in pacific northwest coast native style

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  Leatherback turtle
  by Mark Gauti

  This is a Leatherback turtle done in pacific northwest coast native style.

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  Red Rock Crab
  by Mark Gauti

  A red rock crab done in Pacific Northwest Coast Native style.

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  Sun 2
  by Mark Gauti

  Sun done in Pacific Northwest Coast Nativesu style

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  Eagle and Dog Salmon
  by Mark Gauti

  A Pacific Northwest Coast native style picture showing the ancient bond between Eagle and Dog Salmon.

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  Beaver
  by Mark Gauti

  A beaver done in Pacific Northwest coast Native style.

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  Owl
  by Mark Gauti

  Owl done in Pacific Northwest Coast native Style

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  The Watcher
  by Mark Gauti

  This is a great Blue Heron done in haida/coast salish style and is often called the watcher by Coast Salish tribes. Before the European contact in the Pacific Northwest coast wars were waged between many of the different tribes so there was always the threat of a village being raided. Most Coast Salish villages are located at a mouth of a salmon bearing river which also happens to be a habitat for blue herons so villages would have these birds located outside in the water. The herons would act as an alarm system and start flying and squawking if a war canoe or anything else was approaching the village. I decided to draw this because the other day I witnessed this happened while I was collecting water samples of the river for my work and as soon as the heron seen me it turned around flew the opposite way and warned all the other animals that a human was approaching the river.

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  The Raven's Dance
  by Mark Gauti

  This picture is my expression of a strange experience I once had with four ravens. It happened four years ago when I was on the Intertribal canoe journeys. The canoe journeys is a festivity for northwest tribes to return to our roots and travel the ocean canoe routes of our ancestors in a kind of potlatch style celebration. Every year one tribe will host then every other tribe will travel there by canoe. Along the way we stop at other tribes villages to feast, celebrate, drum and sing then rest for the next paddle and my experience with the ravens happened at one of these sites here on Vancouver Island and I can not remember the name of the tribe but it was a Saanich one. What happened was one morning I woke up really early and could not go back to sleep so I decided to go for a walk. There was also a powwow happening at the tribe’s village at the same time so there were thousands of people camping but I seemed to be the only one awake. I walked onto a large field that they where using the previous night for powwow dancing. When I reached the middle I noticed four large black objects flying strait at me from some tall trees on the other side of the field. As they got closer I knew that they were ravens but had no idea why they were still flying strait at me. They then landed on the ground a few feet away from me and circled around me. Then the ravens started doing these strange movements where they continued to face me but they where jumping sideways circling me with each jump having their head pointed so they could look at me with only one of their eyes then change to the other eye with the next jump. The entire time this was happening I could hear my heart beat very clearly and it sounded like a drumbeat that the ravens danced to. I have no idea how long this continued but I broke the circle when I started to walk again. Ever since that day I have always wanted to make some art showing my experience with those ravens but I never knew how until last week when one morning I was waiting for the bus there was a crow perched on the bus stop sign and was looking at me the same way as the ravens did and was cawing at me and after that I knew it was time to draw this. This experience could be one with deep spiritual meaning or perhaps I was just standing on their breakfast and they were trying to figure out how to get it. Either way this is what I seen and this is the art I made to represent it.

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  Red Rock Crab
  by Mark Gauti

  Red Rock Crab done in Pacific Northwest Coast Native style.

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  Thunderbird
  by Mark Gauti

  This is a Thunderbird done in traditional Pacific Northwest Coast Native Style

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  Poison
  by Mark Gauti

  This is an image of a skull and cross bones and a clam both made with Pacific northwest coast native design elements in them. I made this image to represent the pollution that has happened to my tribe’s beaches which has made the clams and other shellfish unsafe for human consumption with out following procedures to clean the clams. The pollution is fecal coliform caused by human waste from sewage that has contaminated the beaches. The contamination is caused from all the uncared for septic tanks which people use around the beaches and when it rains the water flowing to the ocean carries the waste to the beaches. There are ways of cleaning the clams by bringing them to a place where they flush out the dirty water. Also bacteria in fecal coliform can be killed with proper cooking but the problem with shellfish is that many people steam it which does not kill the bacteria like boiling does. For me personally even if I do kill the bacteria there is the thought that I am eating someone’s shit molecules, which really disgusts me. Canada’s lack of environmental laws has failed my tribe once again and these beaches could have supported a sustainable natural resource that could feed my tribe as well as provide a commercial aspect with selling them. We have a treaty that states we can always carry on fisheries as formally, but the pollution prevents us from carrying on fisheries as formally because we can no longer just go to the beach and gather one of most important traditional foods without the chance of getting sick from eating it. The attitude that our society has towards the environment needs to change before we lose everything.

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  WEXES
  by Mark Gauti

  WEXES means frog and the month of March. March is called WEXES because that is when frog wakes up and returns to our world and brings spring time. I made this in the beginning of March after the first night that I could hear WEXES in the nearby ponds by my house. This is a Coast Salish spindle whorl design http://www.civilization.ca/tresors/treasure/228eng.html

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  Vulture
  by Mark Gauti

  Vulture done in Coast Salish style, which is a Pacific Northwest coast Native art style.

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  Salish Sun
  by Mark Gauti

  A Coast Salish Sun design. Coast Salish is a tribal group that is part of the Pacific Northwest Coast Native Groups

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  Garry oak
  by Mark Gauti

  Where I live on Vancouver Island Garry oaks are a part of a very endangered ecosystem that only grows in this part of the world. The Garry oak ecosystem has over 100 species at risk within it. Many of the species in the ecosystem where very important for my tribe in the past with my ancestors using many of the plants and animals for both medicine and food. Only around 5% of these ecosystems still exist with most of them gone from urban development and overgrown with non-native species. Part of my research as an environmental scientist for my tribe T’Sou-ke involves me in a major mapping project finding the locations of the remaining trees and ecosystems and hopefully restoring these damaged lands in the future.

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  WEXES
  by Mark Gauti

  WEXES means frog and the season of spring. Spring is called WEXES because that is when frog wakes up and returns to our world and brings spring time. I made this in the beginning of March after the first night that I could hear WEXES in the nearby ponds by my house. This is a Coast Salish Design

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  Vulture
  by Mark Gauti

  turkey vulture done in Pacific Northwest Coast native style (Coast Salish)

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  Eagle
  by Mark Gauti

  eagle done in Pacific Northwest Coast native style (Coast Salish)

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  Dog Salmon
  by Mark Gauti

  Dog Salmon ( chum salmon) done in Pacific Northwest Coast native style (Coast Salish)