Artwork copyright Robert Stauffer. Photo courtesy of the artist.
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Artwork copyright Robert Stauffer. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, 2016.
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Artwork copyright Robert Stauffer. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, 2016.
Frog/Bear Square Bowl, 1994
Robert Stauffer
American (born 1953)
Location: Yacolt Elementary, Yacolt
About the Artwork
Frog/Bear Square Bowl by non-Native artist Robert Stauffer features a rectangular form and graphic designs based on Indigenous Northwest Coast art with its curved and ovoid formline designs. Stauffer notes that the feast bowl's imagery is "Based on the Haida [Northwest British Columbia] story which tells why an ancestral frog fled from the Queen Charlotte Islands [Haida Gwaii] in ancient times. The abalone shell inlaid on the rim marks the trail of the frog fleeing from the bear, and heading in the opposite direction for the mainland. There are no frogs on the islands to this day."
Many elements of this artwork—such as the materials, form, art style, colors, and subject matter—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 crooked knives and elbow adzes.
This artwork was acquired for the State Art Collection in partnership with Battle Ground Public Schools.
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.
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