gyaaGang (Model Totem Pole)

Argillite carving is an indigenous Haida art which began in the early 1800's after contact with Europeans as a form of tourist art. The market for argillite remained constant while other aspects of culture succumbed to pressures of acculturation and disease. Recent art history studies have found that the images and themes of the argillite poles change over time reflecting the changes occurring within the native communities.

tourist art

Characters on the model poles are often of natural forms. However, to recognize these forms is not to "read" them. These characters and their interrelationships were sometimes meaningless and other times reflected a complex statement with many levels of cultural meanings which are often only known by the artist who created them.

Carved argillite, miniature totem pole with a flat back. The pole is rectangular in shape with a slight taper at the top and is seated on a rectangular base. The figures from top to bottom: eagle sitting on a ‘woven’ hat with two potlatch rings; woman with a labret, wearing a hat, holding onto a five ringed potlatch post; bear with its right paw raised under its chin. Base is glued and dowelled to pole.