I am happy to share my artwork with Learning Buddies Network. It was an honour to create this design.

Black, red and blue are the three colours that are traditional to Heiltsuk artwork. Black is almost always used for what is called the 'primary' formline. This means that the black is used for the outline of the figure, as you can see with this design. Red and blue are used for the secondary formline.

I chose to include green in the salmon head designs. Green is the colour of a sockeye's head during the spawning phase, as it travels upstream. Green is also a colour that represents sea life. Any being in Heiltsuk culture that comes from the ocean has green in its design. This is something that I learnt from my grandfather.

There is a salmon head design inside the body of the human, and this represents the spirit of the human, in salmon form. I believe that when somebody truly understands their gift, and embraces it, then their spirit embarks on a journey of determination, and direction. This is the same journey that salmon take. Salmon possess great determination, and an amazing sense of direction, in order to get back to the body of water in which they were born. When I was working on this design, I realized that I have a gift in telling stories with my art. I am grateful, and humbled to create art that speaks about meaningful stories and cultural values that I hold dear to.

There are also two salmon heads, as the palms of the hands. These salmon heads represent the importance of finding, and always fine-tuning a set of skills that are important to nourishing our individual gifts. There is a Chief Dan George poem, that goes like this:

'Drive a car, watch television,

and your fingers will find it difficult

to remember their skills.'

I strongly believe in the importance of developing and mastering skills that are unique to ourselves. I want to see people who are highly competent, in the skills that they choose to pursue. For myself, this skill is designing, and I am constantly working on this skill.

As aforementioned, it was an honour of mine to create a logo for Learning Buddies Network. Thank you for providing me this opportunity of growth.

Thomas Wilson