This Side Up (kaleidoscope) - Cedar Bentwood Box

Name: This Side Up (kaleidoscope) - Cedar Bentwood Box
Brand: Gwaai Edenshaw
Availability: OutOfStock

SOLD

Gwaai Edenshaw - This Side Up (kaleidoscope) - Charity Boxes 2011

This Side Up (kaleidoscope) - Cedar Bentwood Box

Gwaai Edenshaw

SOLD

Description

4 3/4” x 3 1/2” x 3 1/2”

With pencil, copper, sterling silver, optical lens, sapphire watch crystal, glass, fine silver and abalone, and acrylic paint.

THIS BOX IS NOW SOLD. FINAL BID $550.00.

Shipping

This piece will be wrapped in multiple layers of protective materials and placed in a reinforced box designed for fragile items. It will be shipped with tracking, insurance, and extra care to ensure it arrives in perfect condition.

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"THIS SIDE UP?" doesn't offer much on its surface. To draw more out of the piece, you are compelled to pick it up, to peer into its guts. As you peer into the box, you see some of the perennial elements of Haida Art, and even as you look, those edicts are toppled. The house of mirrors flips, twists, and crosses the static formline elements. An early working title was “Imprismed,” a play on the notion held by some that the principles -- or constraints -- of Northwest Coast Art somehow limit expression. The reverse portal (mirrored) shows you only yourself until you approach it, and then it reveals a box empty, except for some ghosts of Haida elements, and the other side of the box. By design, this box is less inviting than the classic bentwood box, which is generally understood to be the height of expression in the Haida/NWC form. Instead, it appears much like a cargo crate, complete with stenciled, "THIS SIDE UP?" The orientation of the lettering is counter-intuitive to the direction of the pointing arrow. The side that is pointed out by the arrow has a design of two crossed ovoids. This is a direct contradiction of the Haida edict, “Thou shalt not cross formlines.” The challenge here is that the design is stolen from a historic box. It is an acknowledgement that those old guys were exploring and stretching within their forms long before us upstarts came on the scene. On the back face of the box is a sort of troglodyte that reflects you, and doesn't care. On the front face is the keystone to the piece, a simple visual pun: Mouse Woman looking up and Raven looking down. Raven is serious, examining the craftsmanship of the box, while Mouse Woman defies authority.

Gwaai Edenshaw

CULTURAL GROUP:
Haida

BIRTHPLACE:
Skidegate, Haida Gwaii

At the age of 16, Gwaai Edenshaw was mentored by renowned Haida artist Bill Reid. At 18, he worked on his first totem pole project under his father Guujaaw. This 40-foot totem now stands in Indonesia. Since then, they have completed more than three poles together, and he has also worked on a few totem pole projects with his brother, Jaalen. In 2001, Gwaai assisted Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas with his graphic novel A Tale of Two Shamans. This collaboration encouraged his interest in experimenting with Haida themes. Gwaai has since gone on to complete the Jewellery Art and Design program at the Vancouver Community College, where he learned about the process of casting. As well, he is one of the founding members of the Q'altsi'da Kaa players, who developed their first play to be performed entirely in the Haida language. Gwaai launched his unique line of jewellery, Regalia, in 2009, which features cropped bentwood box designs from the Raven creation story. In 2012, he added additional designs to his Regalia line, featuring Naxiin (Chilkat) imagery in this signature style. In 2010, Gwaai was involved in the Vancouver Playhouse Theatre's production of Bruce Ruddell's play, Beyond Eden. He participated in many aspects of the production, for which he received a Jesse nomination. In 2012, Gwaai participated in Lattimer Gallery’s Annual Charity Bentwood Box Event. He worked with Métis/Cree artist James Michels to make and donate a decorated cedar bentwood box that was sold via silent auction to raise funds for Vancouver’s Urban Native Youth Association. In the summer of 2013, Gwaai assisted his brother in carving and raising a 42-foot pole in Gwaii Haanas National Park. This was the first pole raised in the Gwaii Haanas region in over 130 years. In 2019, he was featured in the landmark publication Understanding Northwest Coast Indigenous Jewelry by author Alex Dawkins.

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