Local Native Art

The last couple days we stopped at a two local art places of interest. The first was a carver of totem poles. There are about 7 different styles of totem carving which vary by group running basically north from here to Alaska.. The best known are ones from the Vancouver, Canada, area. At any rate the carver we spoke with was a busy guy. He had a couple finished ones laying horizontally in his shop and one that was in the carving phase. The wood for the largest one, which was huge and all painted and ready to go, came from a 600-700 year old Red Cedar. The wood cost the carver $22,000. At any rate, he was generous with his time and answered our questions. They use computers now to help with lay out and design. If you want one, you consult with the carver about the story you want told. I was trying to figure out how to tell the story about how the Jersey government spent billions of dollars to replace 56 inner city schools and ran out of money with only half completed. The pole would have been too high with many snakes wrapped around it.
The second place we stopped was a gallery advertised from the road and up a steep slope. These people did prints, carvings, weaving and specialized in glass. They were experimenting with a couple new techniques for firing glass with micas and silica sprinkled on to create special effects. It was interesting. They are leaving for an exibition at the University of Washington in Seattle over the weekend. We may go as the exibit is near the Seattle Museum with it's totem pole room.