"When depicting reality, Northwest Coast
artists often showed two beings simultaneously occupying a single space by sharing various
parts. Such visual puns did more than express complexity: they depicted transformation.
Before one's eyes, Bear became Wolf, then Bear again. The image didn't change, of course.
What changed was the observer's organization of its parts." E. Carpenter,
"Collecting Northwest Coast Art." Indian Art of the Northwest Coast.Houston,
TX., 1975. p.9.