John Henry
Hunt
Kwakiutl Bookwus
12" H
x 8 1/2" W x 8" D
This is a beautiful and authentic
hand-carved Northwest Coast mask. The mask is made of red cedar
and was carved by John Henry Hunt. On the inside of the mask
is written “Kwakiutl Bookwus, Chief of the Ghosts by John
Henry Hunt."
John Hunt was born in 1974
in Alert Bay, a small fishing community off the east coast of
Vancouver Island, in British Columbia. John is a member of the
Kwagiulth Nation and takes the powerful Thunderbird as his family
crest.
John lists Tony Hunt Jr. as
his teacher and his grandfather, Henry Hunt as his inspiration.
John began to carve in 1991 and prefers to work with the soft
Red Cedar indigenous to British Columbia.
A quickly rising artist, he
was born into a family renowned for its master-carvers. He apprenticed
with his uncles Stan and Tony Hunt Jr. Given his first set of
carving tools at 14 years of age; he spent that summer training
at the Copper Maker Studios in Fort Rupert. He currently specialises
in mask of great detail and depth that appeal to both contemporary
and traditional collectors.
Don't miss out on the chance
to have a beautiful mask from a member of a legendary family
of artists.
Bookwus, the Wildman of the
Woods, is a non human character that lives on the edge of the
forest near the ocean shore. He lurks at the mouths of creeks
where he entices the souls of drowned humans, persuading them
with ghost food to come and live with him. He lives in an invisible
house in the woods where he communicated with the dead and brought
them back to life during the winter dance season.
Bookwus is an important supernatural
creature in Kwakwaka'wakw (Kwaqiutl) mythology. Masks representing
him are usually carved with great care. He has prominent eye
brows with sunken eye sockets and round inhuman eyes.
His nose is curved like a
birds beak and he often has ears that stand upright and alert,
representing his acute hearing. His forehead and cheeks often
have ridges carved into them that emphasize his skull like form.
The more northern version,
called Bawas by the Tsimshian people, is more human in appearance.
