Duane Pasco (American, b. 1932)
Seal Feast or Grease Dish
Carved yellow cedar feast or grease dish, inscribed "Pasco", inset with abalone, with original 'Ksan tag "Hand Carved Yellow Cedar 'Seal' Grease dish by: Pasco"
Provenance:
Purchased at Ksan June 1970
Private Collection, B.C.
Size in inches: 4 h x 5.75 w x 10 d
P20430
Born in Seattle, Duane Pasco's family moved to Alaska early in his childhood. He was drafted in 1952 and served two years in Korea, after which he returned to Washington working various jobs. He began carving, his artwork strongly influenced by his study of the Indigenous artistic traditions of the Northwest Coast. In the early 1970s he served as an art instructor in Northern British Columbia in the early 1970’s, after which he returned to the Seattle area. He took an interest in traditional Norwegian boatbuilding which took him on a visit to Norway as well as the Sacred Circles exhibit at the Tate in London where the pre-twentieth century art inspired him. Returning home he launched into a program of re-education, visiting museums and working with Bill Holm who allowed him to copy works in his collection.
Pasco is now based in Poulsbo, on the Kitsap Peninsula in Western Washington, and many credit him as an outstanding craftsperson and a generous teacher, who nurtured many emerging Native carvers.