I-Hos Gallery
Vancouver Island
Owned and operated by K’omoks First Nation, the I-HOS Gallery is located on the site of the original K’ómoks Village between Courtenay and Comox on Vancouver Island. Directly engaging with First Nations artists, the gallery features Northwest Coast art, including masks, prints, jewelry, and carvings accompanied by legends, stories, and artist biographies.
Visitors to I-HOS will enjoy the gallery’s beautiful house-front design crafted by Calvin Hunt, with assistance from his nephew Mervyn Child and cousin Geary Cranmer. The artwork incorporates the K’ómoks People’s crests, featuring the whale “Queneesh” and the double-headed sea serpent “I-Hos.” At the entrance stands a sxwayxwey (kway kway) dancer, with a mask depicting protruding eyes and tongue, carrying a scallop shell rattle and wearing a tunic of swan feathers—a privilege reserved for high-ranking K’ómoks families.
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Female Welcome Figure
First Welcome Trail
In Musqueam culture, Welcome Figures welcome visitors to our territory. The original poles were house posts and placed at the entrances of our house - right at the doorway inviting you in, welcoming you. Located behind the Vancouver School Board in public plaza.
Serpent Slayer - Welcome Pole
Public Art
At Belcarra Regional Park, on the shores of Burrard Inlet, stands a welcome pole carved by Tsleil-Waututh master carver TsuKwalton (Jonas Jones). It carries one of the Nation's most powerful origin stories — of a young boy swept away by seals, raised in the sea kingdom, and returned to his people as a warrior who could face what no one else could. This is his territory. This is where that story happened. The pole brings it back to the shore where it belongs.
“Return of the Orca” Welcome pole
Public Art
Return of the Orca” Welcome pole at Whey-ah-Wichen (Cates Park) in North Vancouver, carved by TsuKwalton Jonas Jones. the Return of the Orca carries the story of Great Chief wacəq II, whose deep relationship with the salmon and the natural world continues to guide Tsleil-Waututh teachings today.
