$4,200.00
Guardian of the Pass - Consignment #15/50
Artist: Roy Henry Vickers
Medium: Serigraph
Image Size: 22" x 29.5"
- Story
As I flew over the lush valleys and deep gorges carved below us, I could feel the bristle of anticipation. We were now only feet above a vast expanse of white, a glacier miles long stretching before us. The remote, vast, and rugged area that is the West Coast of British Columbia has engulfed us for more than an hour now. Our destination was Owikeena Lake, a land that takes you back in time.
My friend, and essential guide on this trip, was Ted Walkus, hereditary Chief of the Owikeeno tribe at River’s Inlet. He had told me of an old legend of his people, of a powerful guardian who had protected his ancestral village when their village site had been at the North end of Owikeeno Lake. The settlement is presently found on the Owikeeno River just before it empties into Rivers Inlet on the Pacific Ocean.
His story was of ‘The Guardian of the Pass’, a huge stone eagle at the narrows of Owikeeno Lake. It is said that the eagle would oversee all who travelled throughout the narrows. Those of goodwill were allowed to pass; those who came as enemies would be crushed by his enormous stone wing.
The cruel, clean glacier dropped sharply below us. We were now suddenly thousands of feet above a long, green finger of water. Within minutes, we were taxiing on the choppy, glacier waters of Owikeeno Lake.
The plane turned into the wind, and there before us was the stone eagle. The narrows of Owikeeno Lake are only a few hundred yards wide, and the guardian strikes an imposing figure as he watches you pass below. He is so prominent, so real. I was glad I had come as a friend.
I could feel his eye watching me as I photographed the scene. I sensed the painting already - a feeling of urgency, a story to be told. I could feel the presence.
We finished, turned into the wind - the cool, lonely wind of the West Coast. We took to the air. I could still sense I was being watched.
Perhaps they are true, those legends of thousands of years. Perhaps the Stone Eagle is ‘The Guardian of the Pass.
Story
As I flew over the lush valleys and deep gorges carved below us, I could feel the bristle of anticipation. We were now only feet above a vast expanse of white, a glacier miles long stretching before us. The remote, vast, and rugged area that is the West Coast of British Columbia has engulfed us for more than an hour now. Our destination was Owikeena Lake, a land that takes you back in time.
My friend, and essential guide on this trip, was Ted Walkus, hereditary Chief of the Owikeeno tribe at River’s Inlet. He had told me of an old legend of his people, of a powerful guardian who had protected his ancestral village when their village site had been at the North end of Owikeeno Lake. The settlement is presently found on the Owikeeno River just before it empties into Rivers Inlet on the Pacific Ocean.
His story was of ‘The Guardian of the Pass’, a huge stone eagle at the narrows of Owikeeno Lake. It is said that the eagle would oversee all who travelled throughout the narrows. Those of goodwill were allowed to pass; those who came as enemies would be crushed by his enormous stone wing.
The cruel, clean glacier dropped sharply below us. We were now suddenly thousands of feet above a long, green finger of water. Within minutes, we were taxiing on the choppy, glacier waters of Owikeeno Lake.
The plane turned into the wind, and there before us was the stone eagle. The narrows of Owikeeno Lake are only a few hundred yards wide, and the guardian strikes an imposing figure as he watches you pass below. He is so prominent, so real. I was glad I had come as a friend.
I could feel his eye watching me as I photographed the scene. I sensed the painting already - a feeling of urgency, a story to be told. I could feel the presence.
We finished, turned into the wind - the cool, lonely wind of the West Coast. We took to the air. I could still sense I was being watched.
Perhaps they are true, those legends of thousands of years. Perhaps the Stone Eagle is ‘The Guardian of the Pass.