2019 Native Five Ravens Dylan Thomas Print

Description

This is a Northwest Coast Indigenous limited edition silkscreen print entitled "Five Ravens" by Coast Salish artist Dylan Thomas. This design hides the titular five Ravens within its flowing, abstract forms. Raven is the creator figure in most Northwest Coast Indigenous legends. He is a cunning trickster who placed the sun and moon in the sky. This print measures 18 1/2" x 30", and is from an edition of 125 produced in 2019.
"Five Ravens is a print based on a cedar panel I made for my first solo exhibit, Sacred Geometry. In this show, I restricted myself to only using straight lines and circle fragments as design elements. Unlike my regular designing process, when preparing for this show, I simply played around by arranging circled and straight lines until something caught my eye, and in this design, ravens emerged. The first four are fairly obvious, with their bodies depicted in dark purple. The fifth raven’s body appears at the bottom center in an overhead view with its wings extended to each side. Ravens often symbolize transformation in Salish mythology, so this design represents the transformation of my artwork from fairly traditional Salish art into novel styles and processes."
- Dylan Thomas
Dylan Thomas is a Coast Salish artist from the Lyackson First Nation. His family is culturally and artistically active, and he was exposed to art and artistic processes at a very young age. Several years ago, Dylan worked with late Coast Salish carver Delmar Johnnie to learn engraving techniques, and he has apprenticed under Kwakwaka'wakw artist Rande Cook. Dylan learned wood carving, painting, and jewellery carving from Rande, and Rande has also been a major help to Dylan when considering design and form. Dylan cites Art Thompson, Susan Point, and Robert Davidson as his main sources of inspiration.