by Haida artist Bill Reid.

With the assistance of several other artists,
Reid created his massive sculpture out of a giant block
of laminated yellow cedar.

Depicted is a moment in the ancestral past of
the Haida people when Raven, a wise and powerful yet mischievous trickster,
has just found the first humans in a clam shell
on the beach, and is coaxing them out of it.

The Raven and the First Men was commissioned
by Walter and Marianne Koerner, and
unveiled by HRH the Prince of Wales in 1980.
Members of the Haida Nation were also present
to celebrate the work, bringing the sand at the base
of the sculpture from the beach where Raven is said to have made his discovery.

from UBC-MOA notes