My project is to enhance a traditional style steamed Haida dugout canoe. This will be achieved by hiring another local artist to design a "strip" of traditional Haida form-line design 5 inches. Once designed she will paint it along the upper edge on both sides of the 30 foot long dugout canoe I am currently carving for a total of 60 feet of design work. This design work will take the canoe to a higher level as an art piece.

I am the only person that I am aware of that has decided to dedicate their life to discovering the ways of Haida dugout canoe making and teaching it to others, keeping the Haida canoe culture alive for future generations. There are only just a few people in modern times to attempt even a single dugout canoe project and those generally have been made only for display and not actual use. I recognize that a significant portion of the value in these canoes is not only in their creation but in their use. There is a kind of "cool" factor that is inherent to these dugout canoes. This arrangement of dugout canoe and form-line art will bring the art forms together in a way that hasn't been done before, bringing the attention necessary to launch this style of canoe out of the past on into the present and future.