Tsoonakwa, Wild Woman Mask by Randy Stiglitz

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• Nation: Coast Salish Art, native American art
• Artist: Stiglitz, Randy
• Type: Mask

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Have a look at this - absolutely incredible

Tzoonakwa - Wild Woman Mask by Coast Salish artist Randy Stiglitz

So rich in expression - the eyes are cut-out and inlaid with abalone which gives the mask a really mesmerizing expression. The painting is very powerful, then the combination of cedar bark and black horse hair - truly stunning. The face is adorned with cedar bark rope. The mask even has ears, which is not often the case - in short - everything you are looking for in a piece of Indigenous Art from the Pacific Northwest. Randy used alder for this mask.

The mask is signed on the inside, dated 2021, prepared for wall hanging.

Measurements: 14" tall, 15" wide, 8" deep (total height incl. cedar bark and hair: approx. 23"

Meaning: Dzunukwa (Wild Woman) also Tsonoqua/Tzoonakwa, Tsonokwa, is a figure in Kwakwaka'wakw mythology. She is an ancestor of the Namgis clan through her son, Tsilwalagame. She is venerated as a bringer of wealth, but is also greatly feared by children, because she is known as an ogress who steals children and carries them home in her basket to eat. Her appearance is that of a naked, black in color, old monster with long pendulous breasts. She is also described as having bedraggled hair. In masks and totem pole images she is shown with bright red pursed lips because she is said to give off the call "Hu!" It is often told to children that the sound of the wind blowing through the cedar trees is actually the call of Dzunuḵ̓wa.

Photos of This Piece

About This Artist

Randy Stiglitz was born in Pender Harbour in 1953. He is of Coast Salish descent through his mother and is from the Sechelt native band.  He has been an artist for most of his life and comes from a background of Salish artists. Randy has...Artist bio and other available works »