Preparing for Totem 2.0: Design and Fabrication of Two Second Growth Shaping and Carving Apparatus

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For millennia, First Nations along the Pacific Northwest Coast have used old growth cedar trees to carve totem poles. Recognized around the world, these iconic monuments are vital to the social, spiritual, and economic health of these distinctive cultures. One of the impacts of colonization and capitalist industrialization is that profit driven resource extraction and deforestation have devastated the existence and health of old growth ecosystems across British Columbia, making it more and more difficult to gain access to what many First Nations people refer to as "The Tree of Life." It is clear both that we cannot continue the rapid harvest of old growth trees, and that our conservation efforts should not come at the cost of restricting Indigenous peoples from continuing to practice essential parts of their culture. The world-renowned artist Carey Newman has approached Camosun Innovates to help design and fabricate an apparatus that will make certain aspects of totem carving safer and more efficient, while also providing greater flexibility for the next generation of carvers to utilize resources other than old growth trees. Rather than the standard practice of perching the log on beams, sand bags or tires, Newman proposes creating the ability to easily lift the totem off the ground to an ergonomic working height, and instead of using jacks, peavies or hoists to rotate the log to gain access to the underside, to be able to safely rotate the totem in place, protecting the finished parts of the carving. More significant from an ecological perspective, this apparatus will be able to accommodate not only old-growth or first-growth logs, but second and subsequent growth trees as well. Specifically, to reduce the need for old growth trees, Newman proposes to start carving totems out of multiple second-growth timbers that can be carved while arranged, slightly spaced apart, in a semi- or full circle. This new design, being pioneered by the artist, would be more ecologically sound (using the more available second-growth trees rather than the scarcer and significant old-growth) and provide similar scale, but room for a more varied approach to the traditional shape and design of traditional totems. This new method of totem carving will be made widely available, opening up innovative artistic possibilities for carvers and an alternative to harvesting old-growth trees.