Doug Cranmer

Doug Cranmer (1927–2006), also known as Pal'nakwala Wakas and Kesu', was a Kwakwaka'wakw carver and artist as well as a 'Namgis chief. Cranmer was a significant figure in the Northwest Coast art movement, both in its traditional form and in a modern contemporary form that he created and developed.

Personal life

Cranmer was born in January 18, 1927 in Alert Bay, British Columbia and given the Kwakwaka'wakw name "Kesu'" ("wealth being carved") at the age of ten. Cranmer 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 on November 6, 2006 in Alert Bay.

Professional life

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"). 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. Cranmer was the first to create what is now a ubiquitous staple of Northwest Coast art, the "loon bowl". He often experimented with new styles, such as an attempt to design an abstract totem pole in the round.

Cranmer was also a teacher, instructing other First Nations artists at a studio in Alert Bay and, later, at Hazelton, British Columbia and the Museum of Vancouver (formerly the Vancouver Centennial Museum).