From the beginning of time, Raven has fired the imaginations of people around the world.  He has affected our art, language, religion and science in countless ways. Many people now learn more about ravens through myth, fable and culture than through contact with nature.

To First Nations people of the Pacific North West, Raven was not only the Creator and Bringer of Light but also a clown, mischief-maker, trickster and shape-changer. To the Haida people, he was “Royal Chief” and “Great Inventor”, while the Bella Bella people knew Raven as “One Whose Voice Is to Be Obeyed”.

Early Europeans valued the raven as navigator, messenger and inspiration in battle and later, as a metaphor for emotions and ideas. He was also seen as a harbinger of doom and was thought to be the transporter of souls to the land of the dead.

Anyone who has lived in the North has a raven story to tell, usually one filled with admiration for their clever and humourous antics; ravens activating the light–sensitive street light in Whitehorse for a little heat on cold winter days; ravens working in pairs to tease and distract chained sled-dogs so they can steal their food; ravens “tobogganing” down steep snow slopes apparently just for fun.

I am grateful to Raven for inspiring these paintings.

Judith Currelley, 2009