Wade Green

Wade Green, - Tribal Name - TSIL-PIT-TOOK
Makah Wade Green is a self-taught Makah carver who spent most of his young life off the reservation. As he matured, he felt compelled to make the move back to his roots. Residing now in Neah Bay, he has developed a passion for the culture and the art of his people. He is now an artist, singer, dancer, and composes his own music. He learned how to compose music from his grandfather and his grandfather's friend, Hottowe. They wrote and learned tribal songs together, and Wade considers Hottowe a second grandfather. "I started learning from him when my grandfather passed away," Green said, "He started guiding me." Green said it was after those lessons when he awoke one rainy February morning in Neah Bay with a song about humility in his head. He didn't recognize it and assumed he had heard it somewhere in his lessons. When he went to Hottowe for advice, it was then he learned that the teaching had begun to pay off. "He offered me the advice that it was a new song, a gift from my ancestors. He then explained how I could compose my own songs." Inspiration for the designs of his masks come from within, but the ideas are contained within the laws of the Northwest Coast art. This mix of traditional and contemporary inspiration is evident in his beautifully carved masks.