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Lewis Park Poles

Photo: Elizabeth Mann

Lewis Park Poles

2002

Calvin Hunt (Tlasutiwalis)

First Nations, Kwakwaka’wakw, Kwagiulth/Nuu-chah-nulth, born 1956

According to renowned carver Calvin Hunt, Kwakwaka'wakw totem poles communicate a family's history by bearing the family crests-supernatural creatures or ancestors-passed down from mythical times, which all descendants have the right to use. This print was executed to commemorate replica poles carved by Calvin (assisted by Mervyn Child and John Livingston) to replace poles made by his grandfather Mungo Martin, in 1957, in Courtenay, B.C. Mungo's poles were adapted replicas of yet older works believed to have been carved in 1927 by Chief Joe Wallace. Mungo, a master of several Kwakwaka'wakw styles, had been hired by the Provincial Museum in Victoria to restore and replicate old poles in their collection. Represented, from top to bottom, are: thunderbird, sisiutl, who appears with both human and animal heads, and a copper with a whale design on its surface.
Silkscreen print
15 1/2 x 13in. (39.4 x 33cm)
Gift of Simon Ottenberg
2009.5.30
Provenance: Pacific Editions auction, Victoria, 2003
Photo: Elizabeth Mann
location
Not currently on view

Seattle Art Museum respectfully acknowledges that we are on Indigenous land, the traditional territories of the Coast Salish people. We honor our ongoing connection to these communities past, present, and future.

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