K'aad Sakíid (Dogfish Headdress) by Danielle Louise Allard, Haida (13 x 16 inches)

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Dimensions: 33.02 cm x 40.64 cm (13 inches x 16 inches)

Material: Limited edition block print, unframed

Year: 2023 

Limited edition: This is a limited edition art print and is number 10 out of 24 pieces. 

Design: Based on a dogfish headdress carved by Corey Bulpitt, commissioned for Christian White.

Dogfish woman is a powerful supernatural being in the Haida oral history. This design was popularize by the late Haida artist, Bill Reid.

The story as recorded by Franz Boas:

A woman went travelling with her husband. She used to make fun of the dogfish. They went to visit a small rock in the sea. When they were out there, the dogfish, whose home the rock was, came and took the woman down into the sea. There she discovered that the dogfish were really people. They had taken off their dogfish blankets. After she had stayed in the house for some time, fins began to grow upon her arms, her legs, and her back. Her husband was searching for her everywhere, but he was not able to find her. After a number of years he found her. Her face had remained unchanged; but fins had grown on her arms, on her legs, on her back, and on her head. She never returned. Ever since that time her family have used the dogfish crest, and their house is called the Dogfish House.

By Haida Artist, Danielle Louise Allard: 

Since childhood, Danielle has been interested in creating; drawing, painting and building, using any materials she could get her hands on. Continuing her artistic exploration through her youth eventually brought her to choose to study Fashion Design and Fine Arts in post secondary education. The study of art brought a fresh new way of thinking to her life and opened her mind to unlimited ideas and potential; the development of her work benefitted greatly from this and her experimentation began, continuing to utilize all mediums and concepts that intrigued her. As her skills developed and she slowly narrowed her artistic vision, she started to educate herself more about her Haida culture and background. During this time she continued making work for galleries and shows creating acrylic paintings, block prints and mixed media pieces; but, in her spare time, she was reading up on the Haida culture and working on studies of great Haida master artists. She currently resides in Masset, Haida Gwaii, to continue her study of Haida art apprenticing with master carvers and artisans.