Whistle depicting Potlatch Figure, c. 1980
by Doug Cranmer (1927-2006), Kwakwaka'wakw First Nation
red cedar, twine
11” high x 3.5” wide x 3.5” deep
Cranmer was born in 1927 in Alert Bay, British Columbia and given the Kwakwaka'wakw name "Kesu'" ("wealth being carved") at the age of ten. He inherited the position of 'Namgis chief from his father, taking the hereditary name of Pal’nakwala Wakas, meaning "great river of overflowing wealth.” Cranmer died 2006 in Alert Bay.
Cranmer began drawing and carving on his own early in life, but was schooled in the style and traditions of Kwakwaka'wakw art by Mungo Martin ("Nakapenkem"). Cranmer's early working life was spent logging and fishing. It was not until the 1950s that Cranmer quit work in the logging and fishing industry to work as a carver, when he was invited by Haida artist Bill Reid to assist him in the creation of Haida-style houses and totem poles under a commission from the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia. As a result of his participation in Reid's project, Cranmer's training and experience expanded to include styles of other Northwest Coast traditions, such as the Tsimshian, Tlingit, Heiltsuk, and Haida.
While trained in the traditional art forms, Cranmer was an innovator who felt free to break with the established rules of his artform. Cranmer has been described by others as an artist and master, but he himself eschewed such labels, believing that the use of such terms would make him complacent in his work. Cranmer preferred to describe himself as a "whittler and doodler".
