September 29, 2010 - 4:39am
Early next week, totems adorning the front entrance of Vancouver Island University’s Cowichan Campus will be moved to the Quw'utsun' Cultural and Conference Centre where they will receive a facelift.
Two Coast Salish ‘welcome figures’ and a larger thunderbird totem will be refurbished by original master carver Harold Joe. After being spruce up, the totems will be moved to their new home at VIU’s Cowichan Place campus, slated to open in spring 2011.
Joe originally carved the totems for VIU in 1987. The two Coast Salish style welcoming figures are made from western red cedar. One is a medicine man or chief holding a staff and represents a leader of the band or tribe, like a teacher. “He who holds the staff is the speaker,” says Joe.
The female character beside the medicine man embodies knowledge and holds a shawl or blanket. If she has anything to share, she’ll put it over her shoulder. Both figures have their left hands raised in a gesture of thanks or welcome. The thunderbird totem symbolizes education as the continuation of culture.
“The refurbishment of the totems is the first step of our move to our new location at the new Cowichan Place campus development,” said campus principal Maria Lauridsen. “At $26.6-million, it’s the largest capital project VIU has ever undertaken in its history.
“The totems are very special to us,” added Lauridsen. “They represent the strength and history of the relationships we have established with Cowichan Tribes. We intend to bring those relationships forward to the new facility, and continue to nurture them.”
Lauridsen said VIU is pleased to work once again with master carver, Harold Joe.
Joe began carving in 1954 at the age of 12. “When my voice started changing, my parents said it was time to learn how to carve,” he recalls. “I learned the craft from my maternal and paternal grandparents.”
The refurbishing process will take about 10 days. Joe will use a steel brush, fine sand paper, other special tools and some elbow grease to reshape the western cedar wood before painting and covering the totems in oil to protect them from the elements.
“I look forward to seeing the totems installed at the new campus,” says Joe.
Joe’s carvings appear all over the world, including Japan, China, the United States and throughout Canada.
Tags: In the Community
