Totems

Day 48: The three wooden story poles (commonly called "totem poles") depicted here were hand-carved by artists from the Tulalip tribe for my mother. To the best of my knowledge, the figures consistently represented on them are (from the bottom up) Whale, Bear and Raven, with the addition of Coyote on the alder wood carving and another unidentified animal on both the alder and the taller cedar pole. The small black pole is made from an artificial stone and was commercially produced, but since Raven appears as the topmost figure, it holds special meaning for me.

The baskets behind the story poles are of Papago manufacture. One bears a tag saying that it was made by Linda Mike. The necklace is my own beadwork, using clay Raven heads handmade by an artisan from Olympia WA.