Artwork copyright Robert Stauffer. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Canoe Bowl, 1996

Robert Stauffer
American (born 1953)

Location: North Star Elementary, Graham

About the Artwork

Canoe Bowl by non-Native artist Robert Stauffer features a stylized whale design painted based on Indigenous Northwest Coast art with its curved and ovoid formline designs. Stauffer notes, "The canoe was always a symbol of wealth and status along the Northwest Coast... The symbolism of this canoe bowl is that of a whale, a crest emblem." Many elements of this artwork—such as the materials, form, art style, and colors—are based on traditions from the Indigenous peoples of the Northwest Coast. The bowl was carved from a single block of alder wood with traditional Northwest Coast carving tools such as curved knives. 

This artwork was acquired for the State Art Collection in partnership with Bethel School District.

About the Artist

Robert Stauffer is a Northwest artist whose art focuses on the Native American artistic traditions of the Pacific Northwest Coast. He is a non-Native artist. Stauffer learned to carve after studying with Native American artists at Tillicum Village on Blake Island, in Puget Sound, Western Washington.