REG DAVIDSON (SKIL KAAT'LASS) (1954-) HAIDA, MASSET
Ceremonial Dance Drum and Beater, 2000
the drum: skin, wood, and acrylic, 3 x 20.25 x 20.25 in (7.6 x 51.4 x 51.4 cm)
the beater: wood, hide, and cotton fabric, 15 x 1.25. x 1.25 in (38.1 x 3.2 x 3.2 cm)
apparently unsigned.

Provenance
An American Collection, identified as made by Reg Davidson by Lattimer Gallery, Vancouver;
A Vancouver Collection.

A talented and accomplished artist, Reg Davidson (skil kaat'lass - Luck Comes To Him) began his artistic career at 18, following in the footsteps of many of his family members. Davidson’s work spans a variety of materials including gold, silver, wood, printing, painting, drums, and weaving, and as he learned more about the role of singing and dancing in Haida culture he broadened his artistic creation to include dance and song. He co-founded the Rainbow Creek Dancers with his brother Robert in 1980, and as well as being a skillful dancer and singer, he designed and created much of the group’s regalia including masks and drums.

This ceremonial drum presents a Raven image compacted to fit within a circle. The mouth of the raven is the curving (unpainted) line that crosses the entire field between the two largest ovoids, the upper one the wing joint, and the lower one the raven’s eye socket. The long thin red element in the mouth is the raven’s tongue. The red and black profile face in the wing joint is not a separate creature, but a mask-like face common to ovoid forms. The eye of the raven has its iris embellished as a profile eagle’s head. Eagle is the ‘opposite’ of Raven in the Haida moiety system.

References: For more information about Reg Davidson’s art and music, see haidagwaiisingers.com and robertdavidson.ca/family. See also the section on the artist in Ian Thom, Challenging Traditions: Contemporary First Nations Art of the Northwest Coast, (Vancouver: Douglas & McIntrye, 2009), pp. 24-7.