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Sebastian unveils new works

Robert Sebastian, a Gitxsan First Nation artist, has created his first hidden images piece Called Peace Eagles and A Wolf.
Robert Sebastian
Robert Sebastian a Gitxsan artist has a new piece called Peace Eagles and a Wolf that has hidden images in its depths.

Robert Sebastian, a Gitxsan First Nation artist, has created his first hidden images piece Called Peace Eagles and A Wolf.

Sebastian comes from the Hazelton area, which is where his family and ancestors are from, but right now he's in Prince George, his second home, to reconnect with the territory of the Lheidli T'enneh.

To celebrate this, he's decided to release the Peace Eagles and A Wolf print where hidden in the trees are eight wolves. 

The focal point of the artwork is the two dominant Peace Eagles soaring above the silent War Eagle.

Working on the trees that are located in the left-hand corner of the original artwork, Sebastian said he was surprised to see the first wolf there.

"It was a fluke, an absolute fluke," Sebastian said, who is a member of the Wolf Clan in the House of Spookx from the Gitxsan Nation. 

"I was drawing the trees and then I thought I needed to put a little emphasis on them and then one wolf popped out at me so then I painted that and then I kept going and I saw another and I kept going so I did six wolves and there's another two if you turn the piece upside down."

Sebastian said this doesn't usually happen in traditional native art and he considers it a more contemporary element added to the piece.

Sebastian has collaborated with local jeweler Seth Tobin so that he may create any of the images in the artwork in silver and gold, which is Tobin's specialty.

Sebastian also created a piece called Dancing Ravens and Sun that he will donate to the BC Cancer Centre for the North, because everyone has been touched by cancer.

“So much great work is being done by British Columbia’s medical community,” Sebastian said. "That is why I want to contribute to the cancer clinic at this time. We have to look after our health, as people and as a society.”

WD West Studios, 1364 Third Avenue and Seth Tobin Jewellers, 101-2324 Ferry Avenue, have copies of the Peace Eagles and a Wolf prints for sale.