Raven Totem Pole

• Main Author: Sixbey, Mark
• Other Authors: Given to the University of Washington Libraries by Norman Jenisch Rose and Louise R. Rose
• Language: unknown
• Subjects: Hudson; Ballard; Metlakatla; Tsimshian; Tsimshian*; Alaska
• Online Access: http://cdm16786.contentdm.oclc.org:80/cdm/ref/collection/p16786coll14/id/109

Information about the Piece/Artist: "Growing up in Metlakatla, being a woodcarver always seemed like an available job option. There are about 1000 Tsimshians on the island, and several of my older cousins started carving back in the 70's when Jack Hudson began his 30+ year career at Metlakatla High School teaching the only full-time Tsimshian Art class in the country. I managed to take the class six years straight before graduation in 1998. I can tell you six years in a public school with a professional artist isn't a bad start if you're trying to find a direction to run. In 2004 I got orders to go to Iraq. My parents mailed six small blocks of alder wood and some carving knives during my first deployment in 2004. I carved two small poles during my only three-day weekend, and sold it when I got back to Seattle in March '05. I came across the pole again at Snow Goose gallery 2 years later, and offered to add some more paint and refine the features. Here you see the Raven in human and bird form, a character that has brightened our legends with centuries of misdeeds and meddling with the lives of human beings. The other is called "Wolf Mother," and rests above my sister's fireplace in Ballard, WA. She's another story entirely." "Mark Sixbey is a Tsimshian woodcarver (Wolf Clan) from Metlakatla, located on Annette Island Reserve, Alaska. He served in the Marine Corps from 2002-2006, with two deployments to Operation Iraqi Freedom as a field reporter for DoD television and newsprint. He moved back to Alaska with an honorable discharge." Information Provided by the Artist