burnt embers

Carving Shed nearest, Canoe House next

More pictures today from the Haida Heritage Centre, continuing to the north of yesterday’s post.  The first house is both Skaajang Naay and Yahl Skwansing Naay – the Canoe House and the Bill Read Teaching Centre. The second house is called  Hyaa K’id Naay or the Canoe Shed – it is also spelled elsewhere on the Centre’s website as Gyaa K’id Naay  and translated as the Carving House.

The Canoe House serves as an education centre about Haida canoes, but sadly was closed on the day of our visit. The Teaching Centre is in the same component of the Centre and acts as a studio and classroom for Haida carvers and designers, as well a location that accredited fine arts courses are taught. It too was closed when we visited, though I did find a gap to peek through (as I have shown a habit of doing) and have one photo from that intrusion. The Canoe House and Teaching Centre appear as one building from the outside, with a pole in front like the others.

Beaver

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The pole in front of the Canoe House represents the village of Ts’aahl Llnagaay widely known as Chaatl which is on the west coast of Haida Gwaii off the north corner of Moresby Island. Below is the information from the Haida Heritage Centre website, which for me does not display properly using either of  two different browsers, so I am including it here with my pictures of the pole so you can see the figures and their descriptions in one place:

Location: Skaajang Naay – Canoe House and Yahl Skwansing Naay/Bill Reid Teaching Centre

Carver: Garner Moody (Stl’inll/Stl’inlas)
Clan: Gaagyals KiiGawaay of Skedans
Assistants: Billy Bellis & Tony Greene

The figures from bottom to top:
• Ts’ing or Beaver
• K‘aa Gwaay or Five-finned Whale
• Taan or Bear
• Xuuya or Raven
• Guud or Eagle

Peeking into Canoe House from hallway

The Carving Shed  has open sides and serves as a place to store larger objects like canoes and large poles, and also is a place to create them.

Carving shed

The pole in front of the Carving Shed is for the village of HlGaagilda Llnagaay  known also as Skidegate. I especially like poles that are unpainted, slowly weathering cedar, I suppose they remind of the old ones seen standing at some ancient village sites. There a lot of stories wrapped up in this pole, like the others. I don’t know those stories, but I do like the man holding a copper with inscribed design that is located within the Five-finned Whale segment of the pole.

Man with copper

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Small sealing? canoe

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Pole information from the Haida Heritage Centre website:

Location: Hyaa K’id Naay – Carving shed

Carver: Gaahyah (Norman Price)
Clan: Gaagyals KiiGawaay (Those born at Dead Tree Point) of Skedans
Apprentices: Matt Ridley and Jesse Jones

The figures from bottom to top:
• Ts’ing or Beaver
• K‘aa Gwaay or Five-finned Whale
• Taan or Bear
• Xuuya or Raven
• Guud or Eagle

Beaver

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This is one of a series of eight posts about the Haida Heritage Centre, the others can be found through this link.

To open larger versions of the images below, click on any one of them, use the arrows to  navigate and escape to return to this page.

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