OCTOPUS - SMALL POSTER

OCTOPUS - SMALL POSTEREdition Date: August 2007 Artist: Roy Henry Vickers Medium: Poster Image Size: 7. 75" x 13" Poster Size: 10. 75" x 16" Story I have many stories about octopus experiences in my life, and a couple come to mind that inspired this OCTOPUS. In the late 1970s, I was fresh out of the Gitanmaax School of Northwest Coast Indian Art in Hazelton, BC. I went to my home village of Kitkatla that summer and was fishing for crabs with an elder when we came across

Story

I have many stories about octopus experiences in my life, and a couple come to mind that inspired this OCTOPUS.

In the late 1970s, I was fresh out of the Gitanmaax School of Northwest Coast Indian Art in Hazelton, BC. I went to my home village of Kitkatla that summer and was fishing for crabs with an elder when we came across this very large octopus. We managed to catch it and bring it on board. Chester, the elder told me that young men used to prove their bravery by reaching up inside the octopus' arms to grab its beak and pull it out while it was still alive thus ending its life and showing great courage. I then took the large octopus and followed the instructions, and we enjoyed a fresh meal.

When I moved to Tofino and opened the Eagle Aerie Gallery, I also did a lot of scuba diving in the waters around Tofino. When the Stanley Park Aquarium diver came to Tofino to collect species, I was his assistant. We recovered several live octopi, and I always remember a tiny octopus we had accidentally recovered. I like to think that the large octopus was the mother, and the little octopus we captured that day was one of the offspring, and they were hauled off to live together in Vancouver.