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Manhousaht chief completes ambitious sculpture Ucluelet, BC -- In 2008 an ambitious carving project has set in motion between Iisaak Forest Resources, and the Manhousaht hereditary Chief (Ha'wilth) James Swan. In October 2008 James wrote to Iisaak asking for a log he could turn into a carving project towards his Fine Arts Degree at University of Victoria. At roughly the same time, Iisaak was looking for a way to celebrate it's tenth year anniversary as a company, and the opportunity to combine the two projects emerged. An enormous red cedar log, was found soon after, and was donated to the project by then Chief Bert Mack, of the Toquaht First Nation. The log was trucked to the U-Vic Campus and James has began working tirelessly on the project, spending many very late nights during the winter months carving the piece in a covered outdoor area of campus. James had good reason to work hard to meet his target deadline of January 2009 - not only did he need to complete the sculpture for his fine arts coursework, but as a member of Canadian Armed Forces Reserve, James was committed to beginning a new phase of his military training in Edmonton starting in February 2009. James estimates he spent over four hundred hours over a period of three months to complete his carving, his initial estimates had him working about half that amount. A project as difficult and ambitious as this must have been very demanding on James as he is already balancing his life between his family, his studies, and his duty as a Canadian Scottish Regiment reservist. The results of his efforts speaks for itself when one sees what he has created. The Totem:At three meters in height the carving is not tall as one might think of a traditional totem, but it tells a story as totems traditionally do. Its shorter height and massive width makes the carving immediately more accessible to the viewer, almost inviting you to touch and feel as well as you walk around the piece. The viewer is effectively drawn towards walking completely around the sculpture, experiencing from all sides the interplay between the mythical figures that make up the piece. In completing the circle the viewer also unknowingly completes a subtle artistic theme of the work -- that of the circular nature of nature and life. The totem depicts a Ha'wilth (Chief) standing on the back of an Orca holding onto it's dorsal fin, as Thunderbird is coming out of his soul. Then, exploding from the whales blow hole is a Wolf rising to protect the chief from the front. A Sea-serpent rises from the ocean to help the chief and Thunderbird part. To the rear of the piece a bear stands guard for the chief's back. This totem draws from many stories of the Nuu-chah-nulth people and James has incorporated the crests from each of the bands into it. Each of these animals carry a great significance to the Nuu-chah-nulth people, they each have many interwoven stories about them.   |
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