Hollie Bartlett Whale Tail Pendant
By Alex Dawkins
Posted in News, on January 18, 2020
In January of this year, the Duchess of Sussex - Meghan Markle - was spotted wearing a gold necklace with a whale tail-shaped pendant while visiting the Vancouver organization, Justice For Girls. The necklace was a gift from Indigenous artist and Lattimer Gallery artist Hollie Bartlett, a member of the Haisla people whose community is predominantly based in Kitamaat Village on the coast of British Columbia. The piece was handpicked by Bartlett, whose jewelry designs are inspired by contemporary Northwest Coast crest symbols.
Hollie Bartlett's family crest is the Killerwhale. She began her artistic career as a photographer for Kahtou News: The Voice of BC First Nations. In 1998, she began an apprenticeship with established Kwakwaka’wakw/Tlingit jeweller Corrine Hunt. She learned engraving techniques, stone-setting, and overlay methods with Corrine. In 2009, Hollie showed her work in the Continuum: Vision and Creativity on the Northwest Coast exhibition at the Bill Reid Gallery in Vancouver, BC. In 2019, she was featured in the landmark publication Understanding Northwest Coast Indigenous Jewelry by author Alex Dawkins.