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Totem Poles Admired Worldwide

Among the Kwakwaka'wakw tribes, the Thunderbird with its outstretched wings is a prominent motif. Widely imitated with the revitalization of Northwest Coast art in the 1950s, the Thunderbird became an internationally recognized icon of indigenous peoples. Two Thunderbird posts that originally had served as interior corner posts of a bighouse were erected in 1924 as a tourist attraction in Stanley Park, Vancouver, British Columbia (BC). The posts were carved by Kwakiutl artist Yaakutlas (Charlie James) of 'Yalis (Alert Bay) for Chief Tsa wee norrh of Gway'i (Kingcome Village). Years later the posts were restored by his granddaughter, Ellen May Neel (1933 – 1967), one of the first indigenous women to take up carving professionally. Her own "Kaka'solas" Thunderbird, carved in 1955, stands nearby (right).

"Kaka'solas."
Stanley Park, Vancouver, BC

In 1931, a 37 ft long totem pole was sent from a Nisga'a community to the Royal Scottish Museum in Edinburgh where it remains on display today (right). From an article published in 1931: "The pole was erected some 70 or 80 years ago at the village of Angyada, on the lower Nass River, British Columbia. It was amongst the oldest in the country, no poles being known which are more than about 80 years old. The pole was the property of Neestsawl, a chief of the Nass, and head of a family of the Raven phratry (Kanhada). It was erected as a memorial to Tsawit, a chief in the family of Neestsawl, soon after he had been killed in a raid by the Tshimshian against the Niska of the lower Nass."

"Tsawit was next in line to the head chief Neestsawl, who was one of the wealthiest chiefs of the Nass; consequently one of the finest poles was set up in his memory. The carving was executed by two men: Oyay, of Gitwinksihlk (People of Lizards) at the canyon of the Nass, and his assistant Gwanes. Both carvers belonged to the Pireweed (Gisrast) phratry. Oyay was the foremost carver of the Nass River district, at the best period of totem pole art (about 1840 – 1880). . . The pole was known by two names: (a) Hlkwarcet (Small hat) from the hat worn by the figure at the top; or (b) Masrayait (White Bullhead) from the fish represented on it. The figures carved on the pole were in effect family crests, illustrative of the largely mythological history of the family" A Totem Pole from the Nass River.

Nisga'a carver Norman Tait, 2004.
Name strengthening ceremony, Vancouver, BC

Nisga'a totem pole by Oyay and Gwanes.
Royal Scottish Museum, 2007

Another Nisga'a pole was "donated" by the Canadian National Railways to the Musée d' Ethnographie du Trocadéro in Paris. It was said to be from the hand of the same carver, Oyay, and stood next to the pole sent to Edinburgh. Barbeau's principal informant was Lazarus Moody of Gitrhatin whose wife, 'Ntsitskaos, was the original owner of the hereditary pole. Oyay's great grandson is carver Norman Tait, born in the Nisga'a village of Kincolith on the Nass River in 1941. In 1991 Tait visited the Royal Scottish Museum to see the totem pole carved by his ancester (above). To further his study of Nisga'a totem poles, Tait visited museums in Madrid, Berlin, Paris, New York and Osaka.

Left he is seen wearing a traditional cedar hat during a name strengthening ceremony for his totem poles in Capilano Mall, North Vancouver in 2004. Tait helped revive the ancient Nisga'a style, which he describes as "about halfway between Haida and Tlingit art" and today his carvings can be found in public and private collections around the world.

"Beaver Pole," Field Museum.
Carved by Nisga'a Norman Tait (below)

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