We currently have in our gallery, a Raven Transformation Mask hand-carved by renowned artist, Mervyn Child. Mervyn Child (b. 1955) is an artist of Kwagul, Tlingit, Nuu Chah Nulth descent from T'sakis (Fort Rupert, BC). Mervyn comes from a family of Kwakwaka'wakw (a Pacific Northwest Coast Indigenous people) carvers, notably the Hunt family, including Calvin Hunt, George Hunt Jr., and Tom Hunt.

He primarily works in wood - carving and painting masks, feast bowls and rattles. Masks take months, sometimes years to create. His work has been exhibited in numerous galleries and can be seen in public collections such as the Royal British Columbia Museum in Victoria.

The Transformation Mask is a ceremonial mask worn during a potlatch, a ceremony where the host displayed his status. During a potlatch, Kwakwaka'wakw dancers, perform wearing the mask and a cloak of red cedar bark. The masks conveyed social position (only those with a certain status could wear them) and the mask also helped portray a family's geneology by displaying (family) crest symbols.

Transformation Masks manifest transformation, usually one animal changing into another. during ceremony, dancers pull strings to open and move the mask worn on the dancer's head.

Raven Transformation Mask
Medium: Cedar wood, cedar bark, braided bark, sinew, cord, pigments
Size: 52" x 12" cedar, 58" x 41" total