My Name is Mark Gauti and Trickster Art is where you can find my Pacific Northwest Coast Native Art. My ancestry includes a number of different northwest tribes, but the one I am most connected to is my grandfather’s tribe, T’Sou-ke Nation. T’Sou-ke Nation is a Coast Salish Tribe on the border of Coast Salish territories and Nuu-chah-nulth territories. T’Sou-ke shares art and culture with the two different tribal groups. I define myself as a T'Sou-ke Nation artist and use a mixture of different tribal styles in my art. I have used a wide range of mediums in my art, including: paint and canvas, acid etching, drum making, paddle carving and, my favourite medium, digital. Following in the path of my ancestors, who adapted this ancient art form to every medium they came across as time progressed, I am now continuing this tradition as I experiment with the newer mediums found in todays times.

I am an environmental scientist working for T’Sou-ke Nation as their environmental coordinator where I study both the scientific aspects of the ecosystems in our traditional territory as well as the cultural connection of my people to the environment. I have conducted a variety of studies in T’Sou-ke Nation traditional territory including water quality testing for pollution in salmon habitat, mapping of endangered species and gathering traditional ecological knowledge on traditional uses of native plants for food and medicine. I am also working with my community to provide environmental education programs, which is perhaps the most important aspect of my work.

In Pacific Northwest Coast stories, tricksters are the ones who take on a job that no one else will, often leading to change, and I consider my art to be trickster art because I am an environmentalist who sees the way we are treating the earth as wrong and I use my art as a form of environmental and cultural education.

link to my new site I am working on for my art and photography [link]

and facebook page [link]