dłam (Interior House Post)

House posts often served as structural supports inside large dwelling houses. Figures represented on Kwakwaka'wakw house posts were supernatural beings which the family living in the house had the right, through their history and origins, to display as a family privilege.

This house post once stood inside a bighouse belonging to Chief Pal’nakwala Wakas. It depicts a grizzly bear—an important ’Namgis crest figure—holding the head of a rival chief. A copper shield, further symbolizing the Wakas family’s high rank, is painted on the bear’s chest. The late artist and chief, Doug Cranmer (1927-2006), inherited his father’s chiefly name Pal’nakwala Wakas at a memorial potlatch he hosted in 1974. He recalled as a child seeing this same house post standing in his mother’s yard at Alert Bay, long after the original Wakas house had been dismantled. This post was repaired and repainted by Kwakwaka'wakw carvers Ellen Neel in 1949 and Mungo Martin in 1950-51.

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Bear is usually represented in Kwakwaka'wakw sculpture with a squared snout and ears, flared nostrils, and sharp teeth.

Wood house pole carved in high relief. Depicted is a bear with a protruding snout and ears and large, carved bared teeth. In its front paws is a human head. On the chest of the bear is an image of a face in the shape of a copper, a symbol of power and wealth. Some features of the post are painted in black and white with Northwest Coast stylized designs.