Salish Sea Panel

For all my time growing up I had known the waters of our Coast Salish people which my late Uncle deemed our ancestral highway as the Georgia Straight. However, in 2008 it was decided that is reflect it’s indigenous peoples who had long traveled it before the wave of settlers descended upon it. As with many of my pieces the Changer/Transformer known as dak^wibaɬ is witness to many things and in this case it is only fitting to have him looking over the crashing waves as he influences the tides. I drew a great deal of inspiration from older Ukioy-e works of Japanese culture as an inspiration. Perhaps most famous for a stylized form of water is Hokusai and as much as I love his work I wanted to draw inspiration that would meet that of true Coast Salish design so it retained the basic design elements in it’s make up. That said I like to be transparent about my influences in particular works and in this case this is one such example.