This is the seventh and final post in a series on Christian art of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Read part 1 here.
St. Andrew’s Cathedral in Victoria, British Columbia, is home to a hand-carved yellow cedar altar by Tsartlip artist Charles W. Elliott. The base consists of two bentwood boxes with a design carved onto each of the eight faces. These boxes rotate throughout the liturgical year so that the front-facing images correspond to the current seasons in the church calendar.
Charles W. Elliott, Eucharist and Spiritual Nourishment, 1987. Yellow cedar altar box carvings, St. Andrew’s Cathedral, Victoria, British Columbia. Photo: Trish Simpson-Boulsbee.
The bentwood box is a traditional Northwest Coast art object, typically used to store food or clothing. They are made out of a single plank of wood that is kerfed, steamed, and bent into shape—hence the name. (The bottom and lid, however, are separate pieces. To read a more detailed description of the creation process, see pages 89-92 of Hilary Stewart’s Cedar: Tree of Life to the Northwest Coast Indians.) St. Andrew’s does not store anything inside the boxes, choosing to use them not for utilitarian purposes, but for the purpose of inspiring spiritual meditation.
St. Andrew’s commissioned this carved altar in 1987 to commemorate the twenty-fifth anniversary of Remi De Roo’s ordination as Bishop of Victoria in 1962. Having served in that position until retirement in 1999, De Roo is Canada’s longest-serving Catholic bishop. He is known for being a proponent of social action and liberation theology.
The artist, Charles Elliott, is self-taught and works in the mediums of drawing, painting, woodcarving, printmaking, and clothing design. He has dedicated his life to reviving the Coast Salish art tradition, which he says is the least known of all the Northwest Coast styles. To this end, he mentors young artists and teaches in classroom and organizational settings. He lives on the Saanich Peninsula on southern Vancouver Island.
Charles W. Elliot at the Second International Marine Conservation Congress in Victoria, British Columbia, in May 2011. He designed the congress’s logo, depicting an orca, human, and raven in conversation with one another (top left). Photo © kipevansphotography.com.
To see a sampling of works by Elliott, visit the Victoria International Airport website. To see details of the totem pole he carved for the University of Victoria in 1990, see the photography blog Burnt Embers.
The following thumbnails are courtesy of Saint Andrew’s Cathedral, and the descriptions are based loosely on those they supplied me with in this PDF, presumably written by the artist. Continue reading →
The Jesus Question 