May's Lesson
Totem Poles
Art From the Pacific Northwest
There's a place where wonderful forests of giant cedar trees grow. It is
located at the Northwest coast of the United States and Canada - next to
the Pacific Ocean. It's called the Pacific Northwest.
The native peoples who live in the Pacific Northwest use their giant trees to make beautiful pieces art.
The most well known type of art made by Pacific Northwest Natives is the totem pole. Totem poles are made for the purpose of telling a story! Some of the stories are about the family or chief who had the pole made. Other poles tell Native American legends. These legends are often about animals who did important things. If you'd like to learn about How Raven Stole the Sun and brought sunshine to the earth click here.
A "totem" is a symbol that each Native American family, or clan, adopts. Each clan uses a different animal as its totem. There is the Raven Clan, the Beaver Clan, and many others. The designs that we see on totem poles are often of clan animals. Totem poles are only made to tell stories, they are not worshiped.
Reading the Totem Pole Story
The story that a totem pole tells is like a poem. Many things are said
with only a few words.
Once you learn the design of each animal, you can recognize it on a pole. You learn that the bear sticks out his tongue, and the beaver has big front teeth and carries a stick. Still, you won't be able to read the story of a totem pole unless you already KNOW the story. The stories of the poles are told by parents to their children, so they're remembered year after year. Totem poles are made to remind everyone about the stories.
The designs of Pacific Northwest art are often made using two basic
shapes. One shape that you see a lot is an egg shape, called an "ovoid".
It can be used to make an eye, or part of a claw. Another shape that is
often used looks like the letter U. Artists also use these basic forms
to fill in empty spaces in their designs. See if you can find these shapes
when you look at art from the land of the cedar trees.
Some native artists in the Pacific Northwest also make carved wood boxes, called "bent boxes." Long ago, their ancestors used bent boxes to store food.
The soft inner bark of the cedar is used for art too. It's woven into
cloth. One very special type of woven cape is worn only by a person of
high rank. It's called a "Chilkat blanket". The fringed cape
you see here is a sample of this type of cape. Can you believe it's made
from the bark of a tree?
Art Projects For This Lesson
Let's draw ovoids and U shapes to create some art of our own!
Craft 1: Make a bentwood box to hold Raven's
sun.
Craft 2: Make a totem pole
Beaver and Bear illustrations are by Douglas Tait
News from the creator of this Crayons and Computers web site:
