In the book The Bitter Telling, Chief Inspector Gamache makes a trip to Haida Gwaii (aka the Queen Charlotte Islands) of British Columbia to follow up some clues. There he meets a well-known Haida woodcarver, and visits the abandoned settlement of Ninstints, or Gwaii Haanas (meaning "Islands of Beauty"). Ninstints (so called after a powerful mid-19th-century Haida chief), on SG̱ang Gwaay Llnagaay (Red Cod Island, aka Anthony Island), is a real place, designated in 1981 as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Located within the greater Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve and Haida Heritage Site, it preserves the largest assemblage of Haida totem poles and long house ruins in their original locations. The settlement of some 300 was decimated in the 1860s by a smallpox epidemic, and the remaining villagers departed around 1880 for the larger town of Skidegate (also home to a number of totem poles).
Here are some images of the Ninstints totem poles:
These examples display the woodcarving prowess of the Haida people—a craft that remains very much alive today (and extends to the traditional black stone argillite, a relative of shale). Here are some contemporary examples:
Robert Davidson, Greatest Echo (2014), red cedar
Sgwaayaans (T.J.) Young, Eyes in the Sky Mask (n.d.),
red cedar, cedar bark, operculum shell
Jay Simeon, Beaver/Eagle Frontlet (n.d.),
yellow cedar and abalone
Donald Edgar, Killer Whale Pendant (n.d.), argillite
Freda Diesing, Kingfisher Headdress (1999),
alder and leather
Carol Young (Bagshaw), Frog Bowl (n.d.), alder
Darrell White, Grizzly Maskette (n.d.),
argillite, catlinite, abalone, mastodon ivory, 14 kt gold, yew base
Don Yeomans, Eagle Spirit Mask (n.d.), alder
Ben Davidson, Beaver Panel (n.d.), red cedar
I got most of these exemplars from Spirit Wrestler Gallery in Vancouver, BC. There are many, many more beautiful pieces to enjoy there.
Finally, here's a nice little video discussing Haida carving art:
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