Cedar and Thistle: Crossing Bloodlines and Tree Rings
The Project
Red western cedar is the provincial tree of British Columbia. Thistle is the national flower of Scotland. Cedar and Thistle takes its name from these two symbols, and from the belief that even the most distant cultures can find themselves rooted in the same ground.
This is a personal and long-term artistic project. Over the next several years, I will travel between British Columbia and Scotland to develop a body of paintings responding to the 34 totem poles carved there by Squamish Nation master carver Xwalacktun (Rick Harry), created as part of the Scottish Pole Project — a twelve-year cultural exchange that began in the early 2000s when Scottish woodworker Kenny Grieve travelled to the west coast of British Columbia and invited a group of local carvers, including Xwalacktun and fellow Squamish Nation artist Tawx'sin Yexwulla (Aaron Nelson-Moody), to carve at his workshop, Brotus, in Fife.
Each painting in this series will document not only a finished pole, but the process behind it; the tools, the materials, the conversations, and the moments of shared attention through which knowledge is carried from one hand to the next. My aim is to trace how artistic tradition travels, how it takes root in unfamiliar soil, and how two cultures an ocean apart can recognize themselves in each other's stories.
The Origin
In 1982, Xwalacktun walked into my classroom at Garibaldi Highlands Elementary and taught us how to draw and paint the Haida orca. I was a child. I didn't know yet what that moment would grow into, only that something had been given to me that I wanted to keep.
We stayed in touch over the years. He came to my art shows when I was a student at Capilano University. What began as a single lesson became a friendship, and the friendship became a creative partnership that has now lasted more than four decades.
A few years ago, Xwalacktun gave me a six-foot house post as part of a trade — a carving we developed together, drawing on events in my own life. It carries a wolf, a figure that in Indigenous symbolism represents familial strength and the ability to keep moving forward. That house post became the seed of everything that follows.
The Works
Project Initiate I: "Sight of the Wolf" depicts a carved wolf's face lying down, a carving tool resting across it; the work paused mid-creation, holding the quiet of a moment between hands and materials.
Project Initiate II: "Wolf Moon; Dream of the Bear" places the wolf's face within the moon, as an observer, or perhaps a dream, a second way of looking at the same figure, watching over the work rather than resting within it.
Painted in acrylic on canvas using a shared palette, both works are studies in light and shadow, inspired by Coast Salish design and by Xwalacktun himself. They became the first visual exploration of what Cedar and Thistle could become. I consider them the two Initiates of Cedar and Thistle: the first works completed, and the ones that opened the door to everything the project will become.
Exhibition History
- Community Art Show, Sea to Sky Gallery, Britannia Village — April 2026
- The Summer Show, Brackendale Art Gallery — June 2026
The Project Ahead
Cedar and Thistle is still in its early chapters. The road ahead, travel to Scotland, documentation of each of the 34 poles, and the research and relationships that make that possible, is significant, and it is only just beginning. The Initiates establish the foundation of the project and will continue to travel and be shown as the larger body of work developes.
What started with a lesson in a Grade Two classroom now reaches across coastlines, generations, and cultures — a place where bloodlines and tree rings continue to cross.
The Pathway Forward
The Initiates mark the beginning of Cedar and Thistle's next chapter. The next phase will take me to Scotland to gather visual and experiential research, deepen the relationships at the heart of the project, and bring that experience back to the studio as the larger bod of work develops.
The project will unfold over several years through painting, research, travel, documentation and exhibition, connecting the two landscpes adn teh storeis held within them.
For project partnership, patronage, exhibition, media, or other inquiries related to Cedar and Thistle, please reach out directly.