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wHOle W(((h)))orl(((d)))

lessLIE

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Artwork Detail - V6

lessLIE
Screen Print
Coast Salish of Cowichan, Penelekut, Esquimalt Nations and of Irish, Italian and French heritage; Canadian
British Columbia, Canada
2014
screen print on paper
43/50, Box Set #3
overall: 56.00 cm x 56.00 cm
In the spirit of spindle whorls, the Grand Masterpiece of contemporary Coast Salish graphics, this design depicts a human encircled by two salmon, four wolves and four thunderbirds. I wanted to create a graphic work that could rival early and classic one-colour Coast Salish graphic designs, such as Charles Elliott’s Salish Renewal and Stan Greene’s Human with Thunderbirds. Within the overall feel of the design, an Aztec calendar influence can be sensed in the circular form. This cross-cultural aesthetic influence reflects the cultural reality of Coast Salish people living in the most urbanized and densely and diversely populated area of the Northwest Coast.

One intention of this classic Salish design was to provoke questions about how contemporary Coast Salish people fit in modern society. Simultaneously, another intention was to show that I have a knowledgeable understanding of traditional Coast Salish design elements and principles. As the great Haida artist Robert Davidson once ARTiculated, “you can’t innovate from nothing”.

- lessLIE
In the spirit of spindle whorls, the Grand Masterpiece of contemporary Coast Salish graphics, this design depicts a human encircled by two salmon, four wolves and four thunderbirds. I wanted to create a graphic work that could rival early and classic one-colour Coast Salish graphic designs, such as Charles Elliott’s Salish Renewal and Stan Greene’s Human with Thunderbirds. Within the overall feel of the design, an Aztec calendar influence can be sensed in the circular form. This cross-cultural aesthetic influence reflects the cultural reality of Coast Salish people living in the most urbanized and densely and diversely populated area of the Northwest Coast.

One intention of this classic Salish design was to provoke questions about how contemporary Coast Salish people fit in modern society. Simultaneously, another intention was to show that I have a knowledgeable understanding of traditional Coast Salish design elements and principles. As the great Haida artist Robert Davidson once ARTiculated, “you can’t innovate from nothing”.

- lessLIE
The artist has outlined a circle in black that takes up most of the white, square page. Within the circle, is a dense black and white design brimming with customary Coast Salish design elements like the trigon, crescent and circle. At the very centre is a face with a crescent on their forehead and an open mouth. They represent a human. Circling the human are two salmon and just above them are four wolves. There are four thunderbirds in between the wolves and the perimeter of the circle. The image has a line of vertical symmetry so that the left and right sides are the same.
animals, fish, human figures, religion and mythology, salmon, spindle whorls, thunderbirds, wolves
formline
Works on Paper
Contemporary Art; Coast Salish Design Elements
Gift of the Salish Weave Collection of George and Christiane Smyth
S018.13.8

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