Red 3

Looking around my home, there is lots of red…so I’m going to keep going with this theme.  This is my dining room wall, with a Northwest Coast native mask and paddle on it.     I’ve blipped this Dzonokwa mask before,(HERE,)... the artist on the back of the mask spells it "Tsonoqua”) The paddle is carved and painted by an artist from the same group (Kwakwaka'wakw) as the mask .. from northern Vancouver Island.  Originally, before trading with Europeans occurred , the NW Coast Indians  (First Nations, in Canada) used mostly black, (lignite, graphite and charcoal) red, (Ochers and the stone hematite)  and green blue (from copper minerals) so the red would have been dull, darkish, rust red.   Until “China red” vermillion came from the Chinese in paper packets in the 19th C.      Well, these are contemporary pieces,  so who knows….but the colors are traditional.   My red wall was painted with latex and acrylic paint and glazes with brushes and rags. :-)