The four figures on this spoon appear to be a sea bear with a man astride his dorsal fin, plus two more bears. Early spoons of this type appear not to have been polished since they retain the marks of the carving tool and the very crisp corners and planes that result from finishing with the tool. The handle and bowl are black streaked with gray and brown, the natural color of the horn. The bowl has been fitted into the hollow at the base of the carved handle and fastened in place with two rivets. (Holm, Crooked Beak of Heaven, 1972)

This carving in hard, dark wood, resembling a tiny totem pole is another piece of unkown use. A short, pointed tenon on the lower end must have been the means of attachment to another part. The figures represented are a bear, much elongated, with a small eagle held against its chest. Details of eyes and nostrils, the claws of the bear and eagle, the bird's ribs, and the stylized structure of the wings are all delineated in the classic northern style. (Holm, Crooked Beak of Heaven, 1972)

In this hamatsa whistle the three different voices are produced by three separate cylindrical whistles bound together so that their mouthpieces join and their barrels radiate out in a fan-like configuration. This is another example of the variety of whistles used in the Tseyka. (Holm, Crooked Beak of Heaven, 1972)

Tlasula whistles and horns vary in size from small squeakers held in the dancer's mouth or built into the mask to rather large instruments nearly a yard in length. This horn, one of a pair in the Burke Museum collection, is about average in size. The plain brown cedar is decorated with an unpainted relief representing raven. The figure is highly conventionalized and closely resembles the formline surface decorations of the northern coastal artists. (Holm, Crooked Beak of Heaven, 1972)

This ladle is one of a pair of ladles in the collection of the Burke Museum. Ladles with figures of mythical creatures carved on their handles, such as this one, are used to distribute food from feast dishes. The Sisioohl head is conceived as an extension of the handle, bent back upon itself and joined to the neck of the spoon. Attached to the nose and curling up over it like a tongue, is a small copper. (Holm, Crooked Beak of Heaven, 1972)

Sidney Gerber purchased this owl mask from Willie Seaweed shortly after it had been photographed, worn by Joe Seaweed, in the film Dances of the Kwakiutl (Orbit Films 1951). As seen on the museum wall the round bulging eyes set in flaring blue-green sockets and the fierce hooked beak dramatically express the character of the nocturnal bird of prey. When it is worn in the dance, the bird gains life. The mask is bold in its conception and execution. Made perhaps fifty years ago by George Walkus of Smith Inlet, it represents the artist's style at its most expressive. The painting in black, red, green, and white follows the carved features and elaborates the cheeks in typical Kwakiutl fashion. (Holm, Crooked Beak of Heaven, 1972)

Decorated cradles like this one were used only by nobility, and the designs were probably valued family crests. This design represents a whale on the long sides and a copper on the back of the headboard. The whole surface is carved in low relief and painted in black, orange, yellow, red, white, and green on a blue ground. (Holm, Crooked Beak of Heaven, 1972)

Worn by participants in the Tseyka, these neck ring ornaments in the Burke Museum collection consist of a set of three carved and painted wooden plaques, representing the tail and flippers of a whale. There may have been a fourth piece representing the whale's head in the set. They were probably sewn to a rope-like ring of dyed cedar bark, perhaps 18 cm in diameter, which could be conceived of as the body of the whale. The bifurcate tail with a humanoid face for the joint hangs down the back of the wearer, while the two similarly decorated flippers stand out to the sides of the chest. (Holm, Crooked Beak of Heaven, 1972)

Collected from Willie Seaweed and made by him for his wife, who owned the prerogative, this "Calling Down" mouth shows the workmanship associated with the work of that artist. The "mouth" was held in the teeth of the owner. It was called heygukhsti and gave the owner the privilege of publicly "calling down" or critically derogating people. No offense could be taken at these comments. (Holm, Crooked Beak of Heaven, 1972)