Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Courthouse

Last week when I had to serve on jury duty I took these pictures of totem poles out in front of the courthouse. I meant to post them then, but got so busy I forgot. These totems tell two stories of birds in Alaska.

The first is Raven stealing the moon and stars (that star constellation is the Big Dipper and what's on our Alaska State flag).

The second is Eagle and a Giant Clam.

I love totems. I've always wanted to carve one with my own animals and make a story. I don't know when I'd find the time to cut a tree, peel it, learn to carve, then carve and paint it. Probably won't ever get done, but I can dream!

8 comments:

Lisa at Greenbow said...

I have always wanted a totem too. I have a very small one that a friend carved for me. I hung it over the doorbell.

remistuff.blogspot.com said...

Oh Wow! Thanks for posting!!!!!

Cris, Artist in Oregon said...

Those Totem poles are very Artsy. How anyone can carve something from a tree or marble is amazing to me. Love the colors of these too.

crochet lady said...

Those are really cool! Glad you remembered to post the pics.

SandyAlaska said...

A very dear friend made us a needle point totem over 35 years ago... P dot is the head with his blue eyes, big nose and big mouth and wearing the Arctic winter games gold medals he won.. next down is me with my brown eyes, big mouth and holding a broom and large spoon... then there's the dogs in our life at that point in time... each wing out has symbols of things important to us... each child received their own small symbol to be added to the original totem... it's really nice. We both stop and look at it on the wall frequently. I have no idea how our children will "share" that equally...

so there's different ways to create totem poles.

Julie said...

Totem poles are so amazing. I would love to have one too...but like you, I would never be able to make it myself!!! For whatever reasons. These are gorgeous...love the colors used!!

soulbrush said...

oooh yes i love totems too. wow!

Margaret Ann said...

Ahhhh! These are so beautiful...Love the colors in them. Have you ever thought of drawing a totem of your animals...You are so good at illustrating! :)