West Coast totem pole stands tall In Ontario gallery - Don Yeomans delivers his commissioned art
.
Photo provided to Toronto Weekly Newspaper
First West Coast totem pole raised at an Ontario public institution in decades
Haida artist and carver Don Yeomans came to Toronto yesterday (September 1, 2009) to oversee the installation of a totem pole he carved for the McMichael Canadian Art Collection. The 1,000 lb red cedar carving was trucked to the public gallery in Kleinburg and installed in the building's lobby.
Don Yeomans is one of the most highly respected artists on the Northwest Coast of British Columbia. The gallery, with funding provided by the McMichael Canadian Art Foundation, commissioned the full-scale totem pole by this artist to create a new, unique piece for the Collection that will remain on permanent view in the gallery’s Grand Hall.
On the totem pole, Yeomans uses traditional iconography and totemic animals as a point of departure to comment on today’s different modes of technological communication. With this imagery, which includes an eagle holding a cell phone and a frog with a laptop computer, the artist challenges the tradition of representing the theme of totems as emblems of interpersonal and spiritual communications.
Photo By Stephen Weir
Photo provided to Toronto Weekly Newspaper
First West Coast totem pole raised at an Ontario public institution in decades
Haida artist and carver Don Yeomans came to Toronto yesterday (September 1, 2009) to oversee the installation of a totem pole he carved for the McMichael Canadian Art Collection. The 1,000 lb red cedar carving was trucked to the public gallery in Kleinburg and installed in the building's lobby.
Don Yeomans is one of the most highly respected artists on the Northwest Coast of British Columbia. The gallery, with funding provided by the McMichael Canadian Art Foundation, commissioned the full-scale totem pole by this artist to create a new, unique piece for the Collection that will remain on permanent view in the gallery’s Grand Hall.
On the totem pole, Yeomans uses traditional iconography and totemic animals as a point of departure to comment on today’s different modes of technological communication. With this imagery, which includes an eagle holding a cell phone and a frog with a laptop computer, the artist challenges the tradition of representing the theme of totems as emblems of interpersonal and spiritual communications.
Photo By Stephen Weir
Comments