To Travel in a Boat Together: A Canadian Museum’s Wolf In A Copper Canoe; The Empress Of Ireland Exhibit

The Canadian Museum of Civilization has introduced a sculpture of a life-size bronze wolf in a copper canoe which it commissioned from internationally acclaimed Namgis First Nation artist Mary Anne Barkhouse.  Titled ’namaxsala, which means “to travel in a boat together” in the Kwakwala language, the permanent sculpture is located outside in the lower pond beside the Museum’s Grand Hall. The piece is inspired by a story that the artist learned from her grandfather, Fred Cook, who helped a wolf cross a treacherous stretch of water in a boat. ’namaxsala speaks to Barkhouse’s deep environmental concerns and the need for humankind’s respectful cooperation with the natural world.

A member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, Barkhouse is a descendant of a long line of internationally recognized Kwakwaka’wakw artists, including Ellen Neel, Mungo Martin and Charlie James. “I was fortunate to grow up in a family that had strong connections to land, literally from coast to coast. The adventures that my grandfather had while he was logging or fishing in the Pacific Northwest, though located at a very different point in history, have resonance today for the values that they speak to regarding survival, stewardship, unlikely alliances and independent thought,” said Mary Anne Barkhouse.”

“We are delighted to have this striking work by Mary Anne Barkhouse as a permanent feature transforming the Museum’s Waterfall Court,” said Mark O’Neill, President and CEO of the Canadian Museum of Civilization Corporation. “In addition to its inspiring symbolism, this remarkable work draws on the continuity of Kwakwaka’wakw artistic traditions and connects across the generations with the model totem pole inside in the Grand Hall, carved by the artist’s great-great grandfather, Charlie James.”

Barkhouse’s choice of copper, a material long used by Kwakwaka’wakw artists, also connects with her ancestral traditions, while the bronze of the wolf speaks to her contemporary artistic practice.