BY JIM AUSTIN
COOPERSTOWN CRIER
A Native American totem
pole destined for the front
lawn of the Fenimore Art Museum
arrived in Cooperstown
last Friday.
Eugene V. Thaw commissioned
internationally
acclaimed Haida artist and
master carver Reg Davidson to
create the contemporary totem
pole for the Fenimore Art
Museum. Thaw and his wife
Clare donated their collection
of American Indian Art to the
museum, which opened a
wing in 1995 to house the gift.
Since then, the collection has
continued to grow through
donations by the Thaws and
other donors. It currently has
almost 850 objects.
``We are very excited,’’ said
Eva Fognell, Curator of the
Eugene and Clare Thaw Collection
of American Indian
Art at Fenimore Art Museum.
``It’s wonderful to have such
a powerful piece of Native
American art on our front
lawn for everyone to see and
call attention to our magnificent
collection.’’
The totem pole created by
Davidson from a cedar log is
30 feet tall and 4 feet wide.
Fognell said the figures
carved on the pole, from bottom
to top, include: Beaver,
Raven, Eagle _ one of the
major crests in Haida culture,
and Black-finned Whale _ one
of the Davidson’s family crests.
The totem pole is painted in
the traditional Haida colors of
black and red, with the natural
cedar as a base.
According to Fognell. the
figures tell a traditional Haida
story of a raven stealing a
beaver lodge.
Fognell said she had seen
photos of the totem pole in
progress, but Friday morning
was the first chance she had
to examine it.
``It’s absolutely amazing. It’s
incredible when you get to
see it in person,’’ she said. ``It’s
certainly not something you
see everyday. The public will
enjoy it. It’s spectacular.’’
The totem pole will be unveiled
at a special public event
on Saturday, May 29, during
Memorial Day weekend. It
will be permanently erected
on the Museum’s front lawn
where the flagpole had been.
An interpretive panel to provide
important details about
the piece will also be installed.
The museum’s education
department is creating school
and public programming that
will link the Northwest Coast
Native American culture to
the totem pole and provide
comparisons to other cultures
represented in The Thaw Collection.
Audio tours will be provided
for the public. The Museum’s
distance learning program
will also bring Native American
education programs to
schoolchildren throughout
North America.
Totem poles have a long
tradition among the Native
American peoples of
the Pacific Northwest Coast
and may be one of the most
widely recognized art forms
from that region. Traditionally
totem poles were funerary
containers and memorial
markers or symbols of clan
and family wealth and prestige.
The imagery carved into
the totem pole may recount
familiar legends, clan lineages,
or notable events. The Haida
are the native people of the
Queen Charlotte Islands, British
Columbia, and the south
end of Prince of Wales Island,
Alaska.
Reg Davidson is an internationally
acclaimed Haida
artist and master carver, who
creates large and small cedar
sculptures, silk-screen prints,
jewelry, weaving, carved
masks and painted drums. He
was born in 1954 in Masset,
Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte
Islands), British Columbia
and was taught by his father,
Claude Davidson, chief of
the village of Dadens, Haida
Gwaii.
Many members of the
Davidson family are artists,
including his well-known
brother, Robert Davidson.
Reg Davidson is an accomplished
dancer and singer
with the Rainbow Creek
Dancers, a Haida Dance group
formed by the brothers in
1980.
He designed and created
much of the dance regalia for
the group including masks,
drums, and kid leather dance
capes.
Davidson’s style shows
reverence for the masters and
has changed only slightly over
the years.
``Simplicity is the hardest
thing to achieve,’’ he is quoted
saying a media release from
the museum.
His work is included in
private collections throughout
North America, Germany, Holland,
England and Japan.
The Thaw collection is widely
recognized as one of the
most important assemblages
of this type in the world. The
New York Times described it
as ``a collection any museum
in the world should envy.
The museum has put together
a traveling exhibition
entitled ``Art of the American
Indians: The Thaw Collection,’’
which will go on exhibit
beginning March 7 at the
Cleveland Museum of Art.
``The collection has long
been recognized as a national
treasure. This traveling exhibition
gives us the opportunity
to finally share these significant
works with a much larger,
national audience,” said Paul
D’Ambrosio, Vice President
and Chief Curator at the Fenimore
Art Museum.
For more information, visit
the Fenimore Art Museum’s
Facebook and blog pages. Go
to the website, FenimoreArt-
Museum.org, and click on
the links at the bottom of the
page.
