Kwakiutl Thunderbird Necklace - Lightning Creek British Columbia - pheasant feather, abalone - sterling silver || JF838

JF838 || Lightning Creek, BC rock bed formation carved into a Kwakiutl Thunderbird.

This Necklace Carving matches earring set JF310 || Kwakiutl Thunderbird earrings (sold separately)

The thunderbird is a significant figure in the Nuu-chan-nulth (Nootka), Kwakwaka'wakw (Kwakiutl) and Haida first nations people of present day British Columbia and in different ways.

This statement piece, a Thunderbird, the immense, sky-ruling ancestral spirit recognized across the Northwest Coast, draws particularly on the traditions of the Nuu-chah-nulth and Kwakwakaʼwakw peoples. The piece is a profound study in the duality of supernatural force and nurturing life-source.

Power and Ancestry

The carving form is intensely detailed, featuring the powerful & dramatic, recurved beak that curls back toward the body—a classic artistic expression of the supreme raptor and supernatural being found in Northwest Coast iconography. This figure represents the Nuu-chah-nulth hunter, Tooksquin, who controls the storms, and the Kwakwakaʼwakw ancestor, Kwunusela, who transforms between the sky world and the human world.

The Abalone (mother-of-pearl) inlaid eye and discs, elicits the Thunderbird to possess an intense, illuminating power. This iridescence speaks to the flashes of lightning and the bright light of the sky that the spirit commands.

The Element of Sustenance (The Rain)

The most symbolically compelling and unique feature is the use of cascading abalone circles along the neck, representing raindrops or tears. This detail transforms the Thunderbird from a symbol of mere elemental force into one of immense empathy.

The shimmering abalone is here used as a powerful metaphor for life-giving rain. A contemporary artistic addition to a traditional spirit, the tears are not just sorrow but the essential water of life that the supreme sky being brings to sustain the world. By linking the valuable, beautiful abalone with the act of weeping, the carving beautifully suggests that the most precious resource given by the ancestral powers is the rain that nourishes the earth.

This carving is a testament to the idea that true ancestral power is not only measured by the ability to create thunder, but by the will to bestow the gift of life upon the world.

Artist: Joe Foster

Materials: Lighting Creek BC Black Argillaceous with White Quartz Veins, Strung on an eight-strand quad-plaited (round) muka-colored waxed polyester cord, 0.925 sterling silver, Paua Abalone inlay and discs, and pheasant feathers. 

This necklace matches Earring set JF810 depicted and others (sold separately).

Stone pendant size: 65mmx26x5mm thick. 

Feather bundles:   12cm and 9mm long

Abalone Paua: 20mm discs