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Windspeaker.com Books Feature Writer
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
“It’s a great milestone,” said the artist about the book that captures his long and prolific career.
Raven Transforms: The Haida Argillite Art of Kihl’yahda Christian White was a collaboration with long time friend and curator Gary Wyatt.
“I really took (argillite) to the limits… So it's very inspiring,” said White, who is of the Yahgulaanas Haida Raven Clan.
White’s carvings depict Haida stories.
“Every time I heard a story, or I would read a story, I would see something new in it... (There are) many different versions of the same story and carved in different time periods over my basically 50-year career,” he said.
The black argillite used by White is harvested from Slatechuck Mountain on Haida Gwaii. Access is restricted to boat and is controlled by the Haida Nation. Hiking the trail and steep mountainside is arduous work and once the argillite has been carved away, it must be carried out by foot. Artists whose health or age doesn’t allow them to make the trek receive the argillite through gift, payment or trade.
White has journeyed to Slatechuck Mountain about 30 times and says this particular argillite is rare. He also notes that in the years he has been making the trip, the argillite has changed and large pieces have become more inaccessible.
While argillite is available along the coast, it is different than what can be accessed on Slatechuck Mountain.
Argillite carving was White’s mainstay, and he is widely considered a modern master of the form. What he produced was often dictated by the market he was producing for.
As the book states, “Works produced for ceremonial use and gifting within the community carry the culture forward, while works produced for the market earn the artist a living and enable the creation of the former.”
“That was a whole different part of our life to come back into our culture rather than just be doing it for money,” said White.
White would spend hours at a time and work late into the night on pieces. He would then photograph the finished pieces, package them and take them to the airport to be shipped to a gallery or a collector.
Because of his dedicated practise to finish each item, he says, many people didn’t get to see his argillite creations.
Kenji Nagai, who is the photographer of choice for many galleries in Vancouver, has been photographing White’s work for the past 34 years. The majority of photographs in Raven Transforms are Nagai’s work, some accessed through gallery archives and others taken specifically for the book.
“They're kind of a vignette, I guess, of our history, our legends, myths. I'm trying to capture a moment in those stories,” he said. “Our art was a visual reminder of our stories.”
Raven Transforms is rich with Haida stories told by White about the sky, forests, lakes, rivers and ocean.
“These are stories where they were told to me by my father, by my grandfather, by my uncles, and they're stories I was brought up with,” he said. “All of the stories in the book I told my students just last summer, really, in 2025.”
White says he recognizes that there might be “multiple versions from different areas and different locales” of the stories he has included in the book.
White’s principal teacher was his father Morris who started him carving argillite when he was 12 years old.
“(My father) developed his own style within the style. That's something my father always told me to do, was to actually develop my style within the style,” said White.
White believes the nearly 200 pieces featured in Raven Transforms represent about three-quarters of his product.
“I know I've done many more. I could see them in my mind, but I don't see the photographs in the book,” he said. “There could be another volume, too. Who knows? It might take a few more years to see that come together because I did a lot more pieces.”
As for what his father would think about what his son has achieved over the years, White said, “I think he’d be very proud. He always encouraged me, and he was just quite humble. …He was a very strong, powerful man. He had a way of drawing people in to work with him. He was a great storyteller and he commanded, he didn't demand respect, but he just had a lot of respect from many great people and he was well known.”
White is confident that other Haida artists and carvers will continue the work.
“Ever since 1969 on, really, it's been a strong movement in our community and it's let us hold on to our culture and be proud of who we are,” he said.
“The other carvers are inspired by the work I have done, and I'm sure they're inspired by the work in the book.”
White continues to carve argillite.
Raven Transforms: The Haida Argillite Art of Kihl’yahda Christian White was released by Figure 1 Publishing in September. It can be ordered through https://shop.figure1publishing.com/products/raven-transforms?_ga=2.11001844.1358986088.1791907523-690619508.1789826391