Shown here are four of the total number of nine poles; most of the new ones are reproductions that have been commissioned or loaned to the park between 1986 and 1992.
Entitled Kakaso'las, this pole was created in 1955 by Kwakwaka'wakw* carver Ellen Neel and her uncle Mungo Martin, among the first artists to achieve wide recognition for their totem poles commissioned by museums, cities, and art collectors. Neel was the first woman to become a Northwest Coast carver.
In Kwakwaka'wakw ceremonies, carved staffs called talking sticks are held by people making important speeches on behalf of the chief. This pole (right) represents the talking stick and characters in an Owikeno story belonging to Chief Wakas. Shown on this portion of the pole is a thunderbird and a killer whale.
From top to bottom, the carvings depict a Moon (a chief's crest), a mountain goat, a grizzly bear, and a whale.
The rectangular board at the top of the original pole covered a cavity that held the chief's remains. Haida artist Bill Reid with assistant Werner True carved this new pole in 1964. Don Yeomans recarved the top moon face in 1998.
Tony Hunt carved this replica in 1987 to replace the older pole now in the Vancouver Museum. A thunderbird is on top and at the bottom (left) is a grizzly bear holding a human.
Totem poles tell a family's story and mark important events; they are kind of like a family coat-of-arms. Some of the symbols are: the eagle representing the kingdom of air, the whale the lordship of the sea, the wolf is the genius of land, and the frog is a link between the land and the sea.
* Kwakwaka'wakw is a term used to describe a group of Canadian First Nations people, numbering about 5,500, who live in British Columbia on northern Vancouver Island and the mainland.
No comments:
Post a Comment