VANCOUVER.- The Vancouver Art Gallery presents the exhibit Raven Travelling: Two Centuries Of Haida Art through September 17, 2006. This landmark survey exhibition of Haida art will feature more than 200 works, including some of the finest examples of Haida art produced over the last two hundred years. From monumental poles and exquisitely carved masks and argillite to remarkable spruce root weaving, the exhibition will reveal the importance of narrative in Haida Art, as well as the importance of the land and waters of Haida Gwaii within Haida cultural expression. Raven Travelling will include such luminaries as Charles and Isabella Edenshaw, John Cross, Simeon Stihlda, and many other great 19th century Haida master artists. The exhibition traces the development of traditional Haida form and will also explore new directions in Haida art, including works by the late Bill Reid, Robert Davidson, Isabel Rorick and other contemporary Haida artists.

The Haida are an indigenous people of the west coast of North America. The Haida Nation claimed territories comprise an archipelago called the Queen Charlotte Islands or Haida Gwaii as the Haida refer to the islands - and parts of southeast Alaska. The Haida are commonly referred to in Canada as being a First Nations "band" (not "tribe" as done in American parlance). Their ancestral language is the Haida language, which is now extremely endangered.

The Haida people are well known as skilled artisans of wood, metal and design. They have also demonstrated skills in perseverance and resolve, specifically in their efforts to protect their lands and waters against the efforts of non-Haida corporations and Governments desiring the removal of the last remnants of island forests. These forests are known to be pre-glacial and are believed to be almost 14,000 years old. Haida communities located in Prince of Wales Island, Alaska, and the Queen Charlotte Islands also share a common border with other indigenous peoples such as the Tlingit and the Cape Fox tribes of the Tsimshian.