The Ancient Ones- Ancestors Totem Pole was finished in 2021 and was finalized in July of that year. This is a beautiful Totem pole that represents all the Spiritual Guardians of the Xuna/Hoonah Alaska area where my mother is from. This Totem pole was inspired by the Chookaneidee Shaman that is buried above the tunnel there in Hoonah. But it does not represent that specific Shaman. Now the word Shaman basically means all the Spiritual Guardians for thousands of years since time immemorial. They were the Spiritual guardians pre-contact and after contact. With that being said: this Totem pole represents all the spiritual guardians for the Xuna/Hoonah people sine the beginning of time. In Tlingit history a village has more than one Clan. Xuna has 4 main Clans and each Clan can have a Spiritual guardian serving their clan. So Xuna could have 4 Spiritual guardians at any one given time. They were employers of their communities having people who served them and doing their bidding.
28 Inch Tall Model Totem Pole
Shop The Ancestors Totem Pole 3D Print Replica Bronze Patina
The model Totem pole is an idea that I had a number of years ago. I wanted to carve a Tlingit Totem pole that would represent a Shaman-Spiritual Guardian. I got this piece of old-growth red cedar L 28" x W 9" x D 4" This model is the Main figure that is on the current 16 ft. Ancestors Totem Pole that I finished in 2021. Carving the model presented challanges. This cedar had a lot of silica in the grains. The tree pulled a lot of silica out of the ground when growing, and that silica is glass. This glass makes it hard on any carving knives because they'll dull quicker. It also makes some of the cutting angles harder to cut while carving. So I had to finesse these areas as they presented themselves. I have a story that will help to realize the nature of this block of cedar that I had to work with. In 2014 I was in Xuna/Hoonah carving there while waiting for my Coastguard credentials to be an Oiler. Anyways during my time carving Tlingit masks and putting them in Jeff & Lisas store at ISP, I would work on my model Tlingit totem pole on my free time at the aptartment I stayed. I would sit out on the porch and carve, especially on sunny days. So here is the part of the story you have been waiting for. I was outside on the porch and the sun was on the horizon out in front of me. So my view went like this, I was holding the cedar in my lap and looking down as I carved. the sun was on the horizon going down in the afternoon. As I looked at the cedar I was working on I noticed what looked like a lot of minature diamonds sparkling in the wood grain. It appeared to be a field of Diamonds. I realized at that moment how much silica was actually in this piece of cedar. this was the first time I viewed this cedar in these conditions, with the sun setting. I remember it like it was yesterday. Awesome memory. I started this model pole in 2010 and talk about carving on it in Hoonah in 2014 and the model still wasn't finished. One thing I want to mention that I was glad as an after thought for the time duration of how long it took to complete carving of this Shaman piece. This carving evolved and I changed my ideas of how it will look. One of the reasons is that my carving skill level kept growing naturally organically diuring these years. I beleive I stopped carving this model totem around 2016. It still isn't 100% complete. But that's OK. It was completed enough for me to take measurements to transfer onto the 16 foot Totem.
Saat-Kaa
Fred Fulmer, Tlingit Cultural Bearer and Elder
