INDIAN EXHIBITION

io Dr. Raley’s B. C. Indian museum, which we students visited to do
an afternoon’s drawing, are some excellent examples of Indian wood-
carving. Some works from the Queen Charlotte Isles strangely resem-
ble the Gothic art of the old world. The totems, resembling our heraldry,
tell the history of families and tribes and also relate legends. The Indians
did not worship idols but guardian spirits, to whom they gave the sym-
bolized almost abstract forms of birds, fish and animals.

Although the Indians used fire and crude stone implements to
fashion their wood, most of the sculpture in the museum was done after
they had learned to use the tools of the white man. The art of carpentry
and carving was, in most cases, handed down from father to son and it
would take many years for the young Indian to master all the art forms
and the understanding of the tribal deities.

The primitive Indian had an instinctive sense of rhythm, design
and form. And as a result the art of primitive people is spontaneous,
vigorous and exceptionally expressive. Of all the Indian art on the North
American continent, the wood sculpture of the Northwest Indian is said
to have been the most advanced. Contemporary Indian carving is deter-
iorating in quality, perhaps because it is being made mechanical, accord-
ing to formula. But studying the best examples of the old type is most
enriching to the student.