Artist Biography
Guy Capoeman is a Quinault artist, canoe carver, storyteller, and cultural leader whose work has played an important role in the revitalization of Quinault art, canoe culture, and identity.
In 1988, Capoeman graduated from the Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Illustration. His artwork earned exhibitions at Quintana Galleries in Portland and Stonington Gallery in Seattle. After returning home to Taholah, Capoeman also dedicated himself to tribal leadership, serving six years on the Quinault Tribal Council and an additional six years as Vice Chair.
In 1994, Guy carved the first ocean-going canoe on the Quinault Reservation in nearly a century. The 34-foot cedar dugout was named May-EE, meaning “the beginning.” The canoe became a powerful symbol of the renewed connection to Quinault cultural traditions and helped inspire a new generation of artists, canoe families, storytellers, and cultural practitioners.
Capoeman later played an important role in the Tribal Journeys movement, including the historic return of ocean-going canoes to Quinault during Paddle to Quinault. His canoes have traveled through challenging ocean waters, demonstrating the strength of traditional Quinault canoe design and the knowledge passed down through generations.
Alongside his brother Jeff and son Cecil, Capoeman continues the family tradition through Capoeman Arts, creating cedar canoes, paddles, masks, house posts, paintings, and other works rooted in Quinault history and Coast Salish artistic traditions. He also involves his children in the carving process, emphasizing that art is not only something created, but knowledge that must be taught and carried forward.
Capoeman’s work draws deeply from Quinault oral history, the natural world, ancestral teachings, and spiritual relationships. His artwork includes traditional forms as well as contemporary paintings and abstract designs. His 2016 mural Kape Jiluupak, created with his son Cecil in Aberdeen, brings together Thunderbird, the whale, the ocean canoe, and the legendary figure Iskwalusis, or “Bright Sun.”
For Guy Capoeman, art is a way of preserving identity and ensuring that future generations recognize their own history. His work reflects a lifelong commitment to keeping Quinault traditions alive while allowing them to continue evolving through contemporary Native artists.
“My art reflects my people’s history. I want future generations to look at my work and know that it represents Quinault art of our time.”
