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dataSS[1] = new data("images/collaboration/ss01_l.jpg","<font><strong>Silyas Saunders</strong>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;October 1999<br><br>&quot;I am Nuxalk and I was born in the coastal community of Bella Coola, British Columbia. I got my first fishing boat at 14 and my first job as a tree faller when I was 17. After a lifetime of working in the forests and seas I have a special appreciation for the natural world.<br><br>I am one of the few speakers of my generation who speak the Nuxalk language. I am trying to keep our traditional culture alive through my carvings. I'm self taught and I carve in both red and yellow cedar, which is deeply rooted in our cultural tradition. I am an avid collector of books on carvings and art works of my people. I am constantly looking for traditional masks I can reproduce and I hope someday to create my own images.<br><br>Recently, I finished building my own art gallery and hope to open it soon. My work has received the attention of the local paper as well as TV coverage by the Knowledge Network. I've exhibited my art at the Bella Coola Trade Fair and the Williams Lake Fair. My masks have traveled to New Zealand with a Native dance group. Several of my masks have been danced at Feasts and Potlatches.&quot;</font>")
dataSS[2] = new data("images/collaboration/ss02_l.jpg","<font>&quot;This is the mountain road that leads into Bella Coola. The view is about half way down. It's pretty steep in some parts, about 17 percent of it. The mountain road stretches about 16 to 20 miles.&quot;</font>")
dataSS[3] = new data("images/collaboration/ss03_l.jpg","<font>&quot;This is the front of my home. I'm standing in front of my gallery that I built last year. It's finished but not open yet.&quot;</font>")
dataSS[4] = new data("images/collaboration/ss04_l.jpg","<font>&quot;This is a Sun Mask I'm working on. That's the woodshed where I carve all my masks. I like working out there, I can hear the birds and squirrels running around. I've got little animals out there all the time.<br><br>One time I was cutting some fish and I turned around - there was a red fox about ten feet from me. He was just standing there watching, so I gave him a piece of fish. Sometimes bears come around too. One day I was working and my neighbor came by and told me to watch out because there was a bear in the trees behind me.&quot;</font>")
dataSS[5] = new data("images/collaboration/ss05_l.jpg","<font>&quot;This is my neighbor's house to the east. Those are the mountains; it's a real cloudy day.&quot;</font>")
dataSS[6] = new data("images/collaboration/ss06_l.jpg","<font>Ho Ho Mask<br><br>&quot;Ho Ho is one of the beings believed to have existed on Earth and is part of the Nuxalk religion. Ho Ho's were enormous birds, with huge long wings that rattled and flapped, enabling them to fly.&quot;</font>")
dataSS[7] = new data("images/collaboration/ss07_l.jpg","<font>Ho Ho Mask 2<br><br>&quot;Their cries of 'Ho Ho Ho' were often heard by the Nuxalk people. They were feared by the people because the bird was known to draw forth the entrails of careless sleepers. The only way to be protected from the bird was to place a staff upright in the ground before going to sleep.&quot;</font>")
dataSS[8] = new data("images/collaboration/ss08_l.jpg","<font>Harold of the Thunder Mask<br><br>&quot;The ceremonial Harold of Thunder, the powerful storm bringer. During the dancing of this mask the performer carries a wooden staff decorated in the same diagonally striped fashion, calling out the arrival of the great Thunder Beings.&quot;</font>")
dataSS[9] = new data("images/collaboration/ss09_l.jpg","<font>Thunder Mask<br><br>&quot;Thunder was regarded as the most powerful and feared of the supernatural dancers. The Thunder masks represented four brothers who battled for control of the Thunderstick. Eventually the four brothers shared control over the use of the stick. The Bella Coola Valley lies between four mountain peaks which was the domain of the four Thunderbirds.&quot;</font>")
dataSS[10] = new data("images/collaboration/ss10_l.jpg","<font>Raven Mask<br><br>&quot;The Nuxalk people regarded the Raven as an explorer, teacher, and inventor whose power allowed him to outwit the Creator, but not to create. Much of his work was for the good of mankind, but some was evil and malicious. He once stole the sun, he brought the salmon to the Bella Coola River and the herring to Kimsquit.&quot;</font>")                                                                                                                           
dataSS[11] = new data("images/collaboration/ss11_l.jpg","<font>Maneater<br><br>&quot;A mask used in the Kusuit Society Cannibal dance. It is believed that the performer is exposed to greater dangers than in any other rite. The fear of cannibals is one which the uninitiated are most afraid, and which is, therefore, the strongest.&quot;</font>")                                                                 
dataSS[12] = new data("images/collaboration/ss12_l.jpg","<font>Komakoa (Wife) Mask<br><br>&quot;The chief of the undersea world and it's demons who serve him and hunt for him. Komakoa has the ability to suck canoes down to his home. He is usually hungry, and nothing pleases him more than human flesh. Whenever a person is drowned at sea it is believed that the cannibalistic Komakoa has drawn him down for a meal.&quot;</font>")
dataSS[13] = new data("images/collaboration/ss13_l.jpg","<font>Komakoa (Husband)<br><br>&quot;The chief of the undersea world and it's demons who serve him and hunt for him. Komakoa has the ability to suck canoes down to his home. He is usually hungry, and nothing pleases him more than human flesh. Whenever a person is drowned at sea it is believed that the cannibalistic Komakoa has drawn him down for a meal.&quot;</font>")
dataSS[14] = new data("images/collaboration/ss14_l.jpg","<font>&quot;I took these pictures in a place called Clayton Falls. I just took them to make things more interesting. The top mask is a cannibal and the bottom mask is a Ho Ho.&quot;</font>")
dataSS[15] = new data("images/collaboration/ss15_l.jpg","<font>&quot;The killer whale was my mother's crest and the eagle was my dad's crest. I put them together and made myself a crest. I use the the killer whale and eagle as my family crest. I am also going to use it as my trademark on the work that I do.<br>This piece is 5 by 3 feet long and about 3 inches thick. I'm going to put it up in my yard as a sign for my gallery.&quot;</font>")
dataSS[16] = new data("images/collaboration/ss16_l.jpg","<font>Sun Mask and the Four Carpenters<br><br>&quot;Atquntam is chief of the supernatural beings. Guiding the sun is his most spectacular occupation. The Four Carpenters were created by Atquntam in the beginning of time. They constructed the mountains and rivers of this land, the animals and birds populating them and supervised the making of human kind. They are considered to be four brothers.<br><br>The most obvious attribute of Atquntam is connected with the sun. He can enter it and use it as if it were a canoe. In the beginning of time no living creature, neither animal or vegetable, existed with the exception of Atquntam. He therefore decided to alter and populate the world and accordingly created four supernatural carpenters. The Four Carpenters are collectively known as Mesmeselanix. The eldest and most powerful is Yulatimut (He Who Completes Any Task with a Single Smoothing Motion). The second brother is Matlabalitcak (He Who Completes Any Task with a Single Stroke of an Adze). The third brother is Matlapexwak (He Who Completes Any Task with Two Strokes of His Adze). The fourth and youngest brother is Itlitlutak (He Who Completes Any Task in a Day).&quot;</font>")
dataSS[17] = new data("images/collaboration/ss17_l.jpg","<font>The artist, with two of his masks, during his visit to the Resource Center at the George Gustav Heye Center of the National Museum of the American Indian in New York.</font>")
dataSS[18] = new data("images/collaboration/ss18_l.jpg","<font>“Being the first international artist in the Native Artists Fellowship Program was very exciting for me. Coming from a small town like Bella Coola to a city like New York was a shock. I have been to cities like Vancouver and Toronto, but I have never seen so many people in one place before. I really enjoyed being in New York. The staff at NMAI and all of the museums and libraries I visited treated me like a VIP. I could not have asked for more.<br>Since returning home, I have made arrangements with the local high school to visit and share the experience of my trip and the knowledge I gained in my research with the students. I am also making arrangements to gather the elders from the community so I can share my knowledge with them.&quot;</font>")

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