dłidłam (Grizzly Bear House Post)

About this object

Narrative

Pair of interior posts from the lineage house of K̓odi (Dick Webber), a Dzawada’enuxw head chief of the Lelawagila na’mima, or clan. Carved to represent grizzly bears, the posts are said to be the work of Awalaskinis, a carver from the Walas na’mima of another Kwakwaka’wakw tribe, the Mamalilikala of Village Island. Photographs of the village in the 1950s show the house posts still standing, while the crossbeams and split-cedar wall planks were no longer in place.

Physical description

Two wood interior house posts (parts c-d) carved in the form of grizzly bear standing upright with his hind legs slightly bent, its front paws raised to its mouth and the paws bent downwards. Both posts are missing the bottom of its hind legs. The heads of the bears are identical with large protruding snouts that face downwards, deeply carved eyes and bared teeth. Each has a rectangular wooden protrusion at the top middle forehead.