kat̓sanak (Spoon)

Said to have been collected by Donald MacKay while he was the Indian Commissioner for BC, 1937-1948. Other examples of spoons like this can be found in the Museum of Vancouver's collection. The paint colors and looseness of the design are characteristic of James’ two-dimensional work. This spoon could also be a collaboration between James and his granddaughter, Ellen Neel, when she was young. Further examples of similar work can be found in Nuytten’s The Totem Carvers: Charlie James, Ellen Neel, and Mungo Martin (1982) and Ronald Hawker’s Yakuglas’ Legacy (2016).

This small spoon features a bird and killer whale design. A wood spoon with a bowl painted in a black, red and green design and a straight, outward angled, cylindrical handle that has three horizontal red bands across the lower portion. The bowl of the spoon has a design that consists of an open beaked bird design. The bird has a black circle in circle eye outlined by green with a red crescent shape behind it, all of which is surrounded by a black ovoid. The black outlined beak has a red and green nostril. The open mouth is outlined by red and has a black dashed w-line emanating from it. Behind the head, there is a black ovoid in ovoid from which two black outlined u forms extend that have red and green dots within. The circular black claw has three digits. The tip of the bowl of the spoon is red.