16" hand drum painted by Patrick Amos. Killer Whale Transforming to White Wolf. On Sale for $1500. The regular price is $1875. Drumstick with carved wolf head included.
Nu-Chah-Nulth master artist Patrick Amos titled his painted drum ‘Killer Whale Transforming to White Wolf'.
The Killer Whale and Wolf are sometimes seen as one being taking different forms. When a wolf enters the ocean it can transform into a killer whale, and when a whale steps onto land he changes into a wolf. This painting captures the moment of transformation. Both beings are apex predators that live and hunt together harmoniously in matrilineal family groups. The undersea world and the forest world mirror each other in many ways.
The colours black and white reflect the black skin of the whale and the white fur of the wolf. A black raven on one side and a white eagle on the other balance the composition. There are many oval shapes in the painting. All the elements are connected with circular and oval shapes. A crescent moon with a face above the wolf joins to the wolf’s tail. The ovoid shape in front of the wolf’s snout may represent the whales blowhole touched by the wolf’s tongue. Two eyes beneath the wolf may represent spirit sight seeing into the ocean and the forest simultaneously. The wolf ears are also dorsal fins containing an image of the head of a whale. The killer whale’s dorsal fin contains an image of a wolf’s head.
The spirit and power of the killer whale / wolf cares for and watches over the Nu-Chah-Nulth people and gives them the ability to hunt giant humpback and grey whales.
