Lyle Tayson (American, 1924 - 2014) "Indians of the Northwest in a Canoe" Signed lower left. Original Watercolor painting on Paper. Provenance: Collection of James A. Helzer (1946-2008), Founder of Unicover Corporation. Northwest Indians built canoes that were 50 feet long and 8 feet wide. These were work boats. Each canoe could hold 20 warriors and 10,000 pounds of cargo, such as fish. Smaller boats or single family boats were also made. Canoes were of great importance to Northwest Coastal peoples. They were used for transportation, hunting and fishing. Their perfect hydrodynamic form has a lot in common with the Viking ship. Before a tree could be felled to be made into a canoe, its spirit had to be properly thanked and released to avoid misfortune. Northwest Indian art is full of the "eyes" of the spirits that filled their world watching them at every moment. These eyes can be seen carved into bows of their canoes. Typically a cedar tree was used for the canoe. The tree was cut, then the log was split in half. The middle was then burned and scraped. After a hole was created, they filled the hole with water and added hot rocks until the water boiled. This softened the cedar so that the canoe could be shaped and carved. Image Size: 18 x 23.75 in. Overall Size: 22.5 x 29 in. Unframed. (B05946) See More