cityscape
Conversation Pieces: Totem Poles
Photo by Brian McLachlan.
-
- 90196
- <strong>NAME:</strong> <em>The Three Watchmen</em><br /> <strong>ARTIST:</strong> Robert Davidson (Haida, born 1946)<br /> <strong>LOCATION:</strong> College Park (Maclean-Hunter Building)<br /> <br /> <em>The Three Watchmen</em> is a triple totem pole, consisting of one 50-foot totem and two 30-foot totems alongside it.
- Photo by Brian McLachlan.
- 20111012totem1
- https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/20111012totem1-100x100.jpg
- https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/20111012totem1.jpg
- https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/20111012totem1.jpg
- 640
- 853
- https://torontoist.com/2011/10/conversation-pieces-totem-poles/slide/20111012totem1/
- 20111012totem1
- 0
- 0
- Photo by Brian McLachlan.
-
- 90746
- <strong>NAME:</strong> <em>Dreamwork of the Whales</em><br /> <strong>ARTIST:</strong> Ne Chi Zu Works (principal carvers: Ben Barclay, Julian Bowron, Lynn Daly, Daniel Gauvin, Earl Thomlinson)<br /> <strong>LOCATION:</strong> Little Norway Park (Bathurst and Queen's Quay)<br /> <br /> Ne Chi Zu Works is a group of Toronto-born artists living in Vancouver; they carved this totem out of a 700-year-old western red cedar. It was raised on October 13, 1981.
- Photo by Brian McLachlan.
- 20111014totem2
- https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/20111014totem2-100x100.jpg
- https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/20111014totem2.jpg
- https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/20111014totem2.jpg
- 640
- 822
- https://torontoist.com/2011/10/conversation-pieces-totem-poles/slide/20111014totem2/
- 20111014totem2
- 0
- 0
- Photo by Brian McLachlan.
-
- 90747
- <strong>NAME:</strong> <em>Aspirations of Canadian Justice</em><br /> <strong>ARTIST:</strong> Charles Heit (Ya'Ya Axgagoodiit)<br /> <strong>LOCATION:</strong> Federal Court House (180 Queen Street West)
- Photo by Brian McLachlan
- 20111014totem3
- https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/20111014totem3-100x100.jpg
- https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/20111014totem3.jpg
- https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/20111014totem3.jpg
- 640
- 815
- https://torontoist.com/2011/10/conversation-pieces-totem-poles/slide/20111014totem3/
- 20111014totem3
- 0
- 0
- Photo by Brian McLachlan
-
- 90828
- <strong>NAME:</strong> <em>Native Peoples</em><br /> <strong>ARTIST:</strong> Abraham Anghik<br /> <strong>LOCATION:</strong> 3200 Dufferin Street
- Photo courtesy of the <a href="http://www.dittwald.com/torontosculpture/image.php?Artist=Anghik&Title=Native%20Peoples">Dittwald Family</a>.
- 20111014totem4
- https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/20111014totem4-100x100.jpg
- https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/20111014totem4.jpg
- https://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/20111014totem4.jpg
- 640
- 871
- https://torontoist.com/2011/10/conversation-pieces-totem-poles/slide/20111014totem4/
- 20111014totem4
- 0
- 0
- Photo courtesy of the Dittwald Family.
Toronto is home to a cornucopia of public art. Some of the pieces acknowledge an individual’s greatness or are inspired by their surroundings; others are installed when developers want to exceed the height or density for which their building is zoned—the public art is a trade-off for being allowed a site-specific change in the rules. In each installment of Conversation Pieces we’ll look at several artworks devoted to the same theme, and consider what makes public art succeed or fail.
Today: totem poles. Click on the image above to go on a tour of some of the major ones in Toronto.
This post originally misspelled the name of artist Charles Heit (Ya’Ya Axgagoodiit). The correct name now appears.