2023-09-09 22:22:27
“House of Myths” reads a small sign on a huge barn near Blyn, a rural area on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state. The barn’s doors are open and two huge totem poles can be seen inside. This is the Carving Shed of the S’Klallam, the indigenous people. A tiny person appears between the enormous poles and waves: “Come on in!” shouts Timothy O’Connell. He is one of the trunk’s carvers and is currently carrying out the final work on the two poles, which will be restored with the utmost care over three years of work. They are now back at the S’Klallam Tribal Center, the public community center where dances and meetings take place and where the Tribal Council has its headquarters.
It smells of wood and acrylic paint, the barn is both a workshop and an art gallery. In addition to the two freshly restored trunks, there are two smaller ones, a blank and a historic pole that was created in the 1970s by the famous S’Klallam carver Brick Johnson. Mythical creatures and symbols, stylized animals and people arranged one on top of the other tell complex stories from the culture and mythology of the tribe.
#indigenous #totem #carvers #Washington