Extended project

Extended Project – Frank Higson

Title: How to make a Native-American style Totem Pole

I will split my project into three core areas:
1. Wood types best used for small scale wood carving
2. Tools best used for small scale wood carving
3. Design – what does a totem pole consist of?

I will aim to use a variety of different sources, namely, museums, books and the internet, as well as interviews. I will then create a small design ‘blueprint’ totem pole that would have potential to be used to help aid creating a larger piece of art, as real totem poles can take a team of experienced carvers up to 12 months.

What do totem poles consist of?

Totem poles have a variety of different purposes, although they are never used as figures to worship, or depictions of ‘gods’. The primary and most common use for a North American West Coast (the area totem poles originated) totem pole was to tell a story. Although the totem poles may be difficult to interpret as a story in this day and age, when they were carved they most likely helped depict a story that was as well known to them as say, Little Red Riding Hood is to us.
However, Totem Poles are about identity as well. Many original totem pole designs use animals; however, the carvers and creators lived in the same environments as the animals. Hence, as Wayne Hill and James McKee suggest in ‘Carve your own Totem Pole’, we’re hardly going to have any family stories that begin, “One day, when your father was out spearing fish, a whale surfaced beside the boat”. Many modern day totem poles can include not animals but familiar objects, such as skis or golf clubs. I may want to consider this when creating my totem pole: I don’t have many close encounters with grizzly bears or coyote’s, although I might see squirrels, pidgeons, or cups of tea (although these are far less exciting encounters, which don’t produce many exciting stories). This is something to take into consideration when designing my totem pole; traditionally styled or contemporarily styled?
Another alternative and slightly more rare use of a totem pole is to use it as a ‘shame pole’. These are used to ridicule another person or party who the carver believes owes an unpaid debt. They could tell a shameful story or depict the person in a negative way. So I could carve my pole to shame a person or a group, for example, responsible for a major world catastrophe such as the pole created in Alaska that depicts the ex-CEO of the company Exxon distorted, representing the unpaid debt he owes to the environment for taking part in causing a large oil spill. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Totem_pole).

Because Totem poles are so large, and made out of tree trunks, it is hard to imagine myself being able to create one first time when it takes teams of experienced crafters months to create one themselves. So I will do a small scale design out of an easy to craft soft wood, which I may use eventually as a blueprint design for a larger scale model (though not part of my project).
It is easy to notice when observing numerous totem poles, that they appear to be numerous images ascending one upon another. There is an importance order involved, however it is not that the most important images are at the top with the least important at the bottom – it is the other way round. And this is simply because of common sense and practicality-the images at the bottom are more intricate simply because more people will see them than the ones 20 feet in the sky. When I design my totem pole I may want to consider having the more exciting images at the bottom. An alternative is having a chronology, almost showing a narrative to a story through pictures, either ascending or descending. A common theme to a totem pole showing a story is the theme of transformation: so if I was to use common themes I may want to show an element of transformation in my totem pole.

So the questions I will want to answer before I start the design of my totem pole are:
Do I tell a story?
If so, a story about my identity/life, or a well known story?
Traditionally styled or contemporarily styled?
Do I show a theme of transformation?
Shame pole or totem pole?

To help decide what your pole consists of a method suggested in ‘Carve your own Totem Pole’ is to look for thematic connections. To do this, they suggest drawing a number of different circles on a piece of paper, each holding a different element I want to include, and draw lines between each one to show the links. I tried this method but uninteresting results. However, after thinking about my interests, it gave me some inspiration. On the piece of paper I had ‘Greek myths’ circled. I began thinking about telling a story of a Greek myth, in particular ‘The Labours of Heracles’, a myth more familiar to me than most. So this would be a great way of intertwining two very different cultures. It would still be traditional: it would tell the story of Heracles, which could also be said to be a story of transformation, (he completes the labours to be granted immortality, hence becoming like his father, and a wife, hence becoming a completed man). It is also a fairly well known story, one that some people might recognise even as a totem pole. It also would mean the totem pole would be much less mundane, because of all the exciting creatures he meets in the stories. So in many ways, it is still a traditionally styled totem pole. The 12 labours of Heracles would also fit well on a totem pole.
I will need to research each ‘task’ to gain inspiration for each tasks interpretation upon
the pole, although it is open to my own west coast style interpretation, as I want to carve the pole in the same style as that of the original west coast totem poles.
According to the New Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology Heracles’ function was to be the personification of physical strength. So as the totem pole’s function is to tell the story of Heracles, I want it to show somehow his primary aspect of strength.






The 12 labours are:
Slay the Nemean lion. Impenetrable skin, strangled to death.
Slay the 9-headed Lernaean Hydra. Poisonous breath, nine heads, lives in a swamp, one head cannot die, serpent.
Capture the Golden Hind of Artemis. Golden antlers. Chased for a full year.
Capture the Erymanthian Boar. Terrifying, came from a mountain.
Clean the Augean stables in a single day. Dammed a river so that it flowed through the stables.
Slay the Stymphalian Birds. Man eating, with wings and beaks of iron. Blocked out the sun when in flight.
Capture the Cretan Bull. Driven mad by Poseidon.
Steal the Mares of Diomedes. Man eating horses owned by the son of Ares.
Obtain the Girdle of the Amazon Queen.
Obtain the Cattle of the Monster Geryon – a triple bodied monster, and had a great deal of trouble getting them back, especially when Hera sent a gadfly which drove them bad +and they scattered over a mountain range.
Steal the Apples of the Hesperides. Slayed the dragon garding the garden, and tricked Atlas, who held up the world, into obtaining the apples for him.
Capture and bring back Cerberus – a three headed dog which luckily for Heracles shared one throat, which he choaked. Cerberus was guardian of the infernal gates.









































Now I know what images my totem pole will consist of, I need to know how to present these images in West Coast style. After examining many pictures from ‘Carve your own Totem Pole’ and Native-American art in the British museum, I have a few ideas in my head. Furthermore, ‘Carve your own Totem Pole’ explains that when designing a totem pole, there are five basic shapes that make up most of the design. ‘By varying them and combining them in different ways, carvers can create all kinds of figures’. These shapes are known as: circle, U form, S form, ovoid, split U and trigon, which is split U inversed.
I will now practice drawing the shapes to understand how best to use them.




Planning my interview: What do I need to find out?
Useful tools for wood carving
Wood carving tips
Best types of wood for small-scale wood carving.

Because there is a broad amount of information I need to find out, I will ask open ended questions.



















Balsa wood. Stanley knife. Trees. Original style (5 shapes).

Interviewees: Ash Higson (organise) Mr.Mayall (organise)

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

‘Carve your own Totem Pole’ by Wayne Hill and James Mckee, published by A Boston Hills Press.

‘Top Ten Greek Legends’ by Terry Deary

‘New Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology’

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Totem_pole