Otter Woman, mesmerizing and outstanding quality piece of art by Sean Whonnock

• Nation: Kwakwaka' wakw art, Kwakiutl art, native artists Vancouver Island
• Artist: Whonnock, Sean
• Type: Mask

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Please read the story of the Otter woman below, and then look at this face…

Absolutely incredible craftsmanship, true Indigenous art, red cedar, fully hand carved and hand painted by Sean Whonnock, a member of the Kwakwaka’wakw Nation from Alert Bay, a small island off the Pacific Northwest Coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.

Otter Woman

Authentic and signed, direct from the artist. True and traditional Indigenous art at it’s best. Sean is so incredibly talented. The face is very vibrant, such a rich expression. The tongue and the teeth, superb work. He clearly spent a lot of time, many months he told me, before this came to live. Adorned with black and white horse hair.

Otter woman – story as told by Sean Whonnock:

The older chief had many wives; His younger brother was jealous; he really wanted to be chief so he could have many wives as well.

The chief’s younger brother than decided to kill his brother by poisoning him. But every time he was poisoned and almost died, he mysteriously recovered. This happened many times over many months and younger brother was wondering – Why? Well, one of the Chief’s wives was a powerful medicine woman. And when her husband was poisoned by younger brother, she went out and collected herbs, roots and sacred medicine berries from the forest and turned it into a potent medicine, mixed into a cup of milk. This powerful mixture helped the Chief to quickly recover from the poison.

Young brother finally followed Otter woman into the forest and figured it out and got really angry. He then told his disciples to kill her. Medicine woman learned about it and was getting scared, so she ran away, she ran all the way, down the mountain, close to the river front, almost escaping by transforming herself into an otter but they caught up with her and right before she transformed, they chopped off her head – and that’s why her tongue is hanging out…

This story and Sean’s carving is highly influenced by Beau Dick.

Measurements; 11” x 10” x 6”, total incl. hair 18” tall x 16” wide

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Photos of This Piece

About This Artist

Sean Whonnock (Wanukw "River owner"), a member of the Kwakwaka'wakw (Kwakiutl) Nation was born in Alert Bay, a small fishing village near Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada’s Pacific Northwest. He is working in wood, canvas, stone,...Artist bio and other available works »