British Columbia
Northwest Coast / Kwakwa̱ka̱ʼwakw, (also called Kwakiutl)
Richard Sumner

Red and Yellow Cedar, fiber, pigment
Late 20th century
(Red cedar chamber) Length: 12 in, Width: 2 in, Depth: 1.75 in,
(Yellow cedar chamber) Length: 8.5 in, Width: 2 in, Depth: 1.25 in
Aerophone – Wind Instrument Proper – Edge-blown Flutes

This Kwakwaka’wakw ‘madzis’ is a double whistle flute of the NW Coast.  Each whistle is constructed of two pieces of wood lashed together and is used in the transformation ceremonies. Of the Kwakwaka’wakw dances, the Hamat’sa is considered most important in these ceremonies.  The right to perform this dance is owned by specified families whose members have been possessed generation after generation by the man-eating supernatural being called ‘Baxwbakwalanuksiwe’.  The Hamat’sa dance acts out the transformation process of capture, return, and calming of an initiate.  In the ceremony, following the mourning songs the ‘madzis’ (whistles) are blown from behind a dance screen and sounds as though the sound is coming from another areas, possibly outside the Bighouse.  Once the whistles start, this indicates that the Hamat’sa ceremony has started.  The whistle sounds are to represent the sound of ‘Baxwbakwalanuksiwe’ moving through the woods.  It is said he has so many mouths on his body that when he walks it sounds like the whistles.

About the artist:  Richard Sumner began carving at the age of eighteen in 1974 with little training from other artists. He later apprenticed with late Kwakwaka’wakw artist Doug Cranmer in 1978. Richard carves in red and yellow cedar, and creates steam bent boxes, bowls, whistles, masks, rattles, and spoons. He was hired as part of the team to carve the beams and planks for the big house at the U’mista Cultural Centre in Alert Bay, BC, and he assisted with the replica of the Wakas Pole located at Brockton Point in Stanley Park during the 1980s. His work has been seen in exhibitions, including group shows at the Gallery of Tribal Art in Vancouver, BC. Richard’s work is part of the collection at UBC’s Museum of Anthropology in Vancouver, BC, the Royal British Columbia Museum in Victoria, BC, and many corporate collections in Canada, USA, Japan, and Europe. In 2010, Richard won the British Columbia Creative Achievement Award in First Nations Art. He is regarded as one of the best bentwood box-makers working today.

Resource:  https://www.lattimergallery.com/collections/richard-sumner
Resource:  Hamat’sa Whistle, by John Livingston (1951-2019)