EP

Extended Project – Frank Higson

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

For my extended project I wanted to learn something. On a visit to the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford I became interested in the totem pole they had in their collection. What did the carvings on it mean and what was a totem pole for? I decided to make this the subject of my project. To not only find out about totem poles but to also try to make one of my own, thus learning some woodworking skills as well.

I did some preliminary research on the Internet and discovered a book – carve your own totem pole - which became my primary resource. I also found out that the British Museum has a good collection of poles and native American carvings and spent a day there studying them. I learned that totem poles have a variety of different purposes, although they are never used as figures to worship, or to depict ‘gods’. The most common use was to tell a story. Although totem poles may be difficult to interpret today, when they were carved they depicted stories that would have been as well known to the carvers as, say, Little Red Riding Hood is to us. I decided, therefore, that I would use my pole to tell a story that was fairly well known.

Many original totem pole designs use animals because their creators lived in the same environments as the animals. I realised that my own personal pole might no be so dramatic. I don’t have many close encounters with grizzly bears or coyotes, although I might see squirrels and pigeons. However, many modern totem poles include objects such as skis or golf clubs. So perhaps my pole could include computers, a TV and cups of tea.

I wanted my pole to look traditional, however, and include some animals so I wondered if I might tell a well-known story that wasn’t personal. To help me I used a method suggested in ‘Carve your own Totem Pole’ to look for thematic connections. The authors suggest drawing a number of different circles on a piece of paper, each holding a different element I might want to include, and draw lines between each one to show the links. I wrote down both personal elements and subjects I was interested in. It was immediately clear that my life story would not translate effectively onto a totem pole. I was just starting to think that I’d hit a dead end when I saw that I had ‘Greek mythology’ circled, and I suddenly had an idea. What if I told the story of a Greek myth, as a way of intertwining two very different cultures in an interesting way. I chose ‘The Labours of Heracles’, as it was very well-known, told an exciting story and would break down easily into the familiar structure of a totem pole.

According to the New Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology Heracles’ function was to be the personification of physical strength. So I wanted my pole to show this. I thought I could do this by making the images on it look fearsome and dangerous, thus putting across the hardship, courage and strength that Heracles needed to complete his labours. After examining many pictures from ‘Carve your own Totem Pole’ and Native-American art in the British museum, I started my design. I discovered that there are just five basic shapes that make up most carvings - ‘By varying them and combining them in different ways, carvers can create all kinds of figures’. These shapes are the circle, U form, S form, ovoid, split U and trigon. (These can be seen in my notebook). I used these shapes to design a figure representing each labour. I had to adapt existing representations of American animals for those creatures not familiar to Native Americans, such as the lion and the boar.

I turned the rough designs into a final design on graph paper. When I did this I removed lots of the detail, as I realised that it might be too difficult to carve.

At the same time I had been investigating wood for carving. Traditional poles are carved from cedar. I soon found out that my plans were over-ambitious. According to ‘Carve your own Totem Pole’, a full sized totem pole would take a team of 20 experienced wood carvers up to a year to create, with the tools costing a minimum of £300. I didn’t have the time, experience or money to do this so decided I would carve a model instead of a full sized pole. I found someone who knew more than most about carving on a small scale: John Mayall, who is the production manager at the Globe Theatre. I asked him about the best wood for small-scale carving, and he told me that he used balsa wood, a very malleable lightwood, to design the models for his sets. He told me it was easy and quick to carve. A small selection of knives would be enough to carve a whole totem pole. So I went to a shop called 4D to get the block of wood. There was a perfect-sized piece of wood for my pole, which cost £20.

The dimensions of the wood, however, meant that I would only be making a model of half the pole, but I was still going to be very busy finishing the project on time. (The photo diary shows the process of constructing the totem pole). The end product does not look like the final design. I overestimated my skills as a wood carver, so when carving the final design I lost a large amount of detail. Because of this I decided to paint my pole, as I could regain the detail lost in the carving process. Painting would also tie the different elements together with a reduced palette colour scheme. (This process can be seen in another photo diary).

The original purpose of my totem-pole was to show the story of Heracles, but not all the labours are represented on my model. However, totem poles are art works, and that is what I’ve ended up with here, not a book, but an art project. So in the end, as long as it looks impressive, I don’t think it matters too much. I also learnt lots about things I knew nothing about previously: carving, wood, tools and totem poles.

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


Extended project Notes.

Stories

As Wayne Hill and James McKee suggest in ‘Carve your own Totem Pole’, I was hardly going to care a family story that begins, “One day, when your father was out spearing fish, a whale surfaced beside the boat”.

Uses

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).

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).

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?

The 12 labours of Heracles:

Slay the Nemean lion. Impenetrable skin, strangled to death.
Slay the 9-headed Lernaean Hydra. Poisonous breath, nine heads, lives in a swamp, when 1 head cut off more grow in its place. Fire used to ‘cauterize’ wounds.
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. Redirected 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 mad and they scattered over a mountain range.
Steal the Apples of the Hesperides. Slayed the dragon guarding 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 choked. Cerberus was guardian of the gates to Hades.

Carvings:

I found some designs more effective than others: in particular, I found that the horse did not look effective as I found it difficult to visualise. The ‘carve your own totem pole’ book heavily influenced the designs; without previous experience, I had to gain inspiration from the book as I didn’t know how to design my own designs. So, for example, the boar comes from a picture of an existing pole showing a beaver, only the teeth have been changed. So I designed the influenced ones first: however, there were no designs that looked like a lion. So I did design this one myself, using the 5 basic shapes (the mouth is a trigon, the eyes and nose ovals). The design for the man eating bird is heavily influenced by a wood carving from the native American section. Although independent of a totem pole, I could attach a similar carving to the top of my pole.

Hierarchy

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. But as I will be carving a small totem pole, this is not a relevant issue. 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.


Ways I can alter my project:
- Size is an issue. If I use a far smaller piece of wood, then the tools are far less expensive, and I will have the time to carve the pole. So I could either design the full totem pole, and only carve the bottom image, or downsize the entire pole, and carve the full design. I think the latter idea would be my preference, as it would result in my original idea – I would have the end product of a totem pole, while if I went with the first idea I wouldn’t – I would have a carved face. Furthermore, the first idea would mean I would still need to obtain the tools that I would have to obtain for a real totem pole, while if I use a small bit of wood, I can use smaller, more common tools.
Experience is an issue. Having never attempted wood carving previously, I will probably work very slowly. So I may want to use a very soft wood to carve my pole. As I don’t know about soft woods, I will want to organise an interview to find out about wood.

Changes from design to finished pole

Working from top to bottom: Geryon’s nostrils have been changed from the spiral design to a simple circle. I couldn’t visualise the spirals on the pole itself – I found it hard to imagine how they would look when carved.
There are only 7 hydra snakes instead of 9. 3 on each side simply couldn’t fit and simultaneously keep the snake shape. So I had to downsize to 7, although as Greek mythology and native American art is down to personal interpretation, I didn’t think that it ruined the totem pole.
The boar has lost its eyebrows.
This was particularly important for the Amazonian belt. Because the trigon shapes were so small, they were very difficult to carve and became chipped and indistinct, so I felt it was important to add paint to regain the detail. I also felt it wasn’t clear that the ovoid shape carved into Atlas’s left hand was supposed to be an apple, and painting it would help to clarify what it represented.

Painting

The river maybe changed the most: the s-forms were far too hard to carve, so I decided painting them on would be necessary if I wanted to show the river in the final design.
The other two designs surprisingly didn’t change from the original design, although I felt