Nature's Totems

Seeing dead tree trunks in a bog recently started me thinking about how much Pacific Northwest totems were inspired by these natural sculptures.









Pacific Northwest totems have long been a subject of historical & artistic study. These monumental sculptures carved mostly from western red cedar decay eventually in the rainforest environment. Few examples of poles carved before 1900 exist, but 18th century accounts of European explorers along the coast indicate that poles certainly existed prior to 1800, though smaller and few in number. Totem pole development is thought to have progressed from house posts, funerary containers, and memorial markers into symbols of clan and family wealth and prestige. Pole construction is thought to have centered around the Haida people of Haida Gwaii and spread to the Tsimshian & Tlingit, then down the coast of BC to northern Washington.



However I haven’t seen much written about the origins of the art in terms of its inspiration and derivation from natural sources. On a recent trip to Malcolm Island off north Vancouver Island where the hypermaritime climate encourages the growth of hemlock, spruce and cedar, I began to see the connection between natural sculptures and the indigenous art form.




The second-growth forest of Malcolm Island is interspersed with pockets of acidic bog punctuated by dead trees. Swamps, marshes & bogs are full of these snags many of which have fantastical shapes. It takes just a small stretch of imagination to begin to see animal faces and figures in the naturally sculpted forms. Protrusions and holes would easily become inspiration for carving. The snags would have an animistic presence when seen in the mists that are characteristic of the Pacific Northwest.