Five years before a 25-foot story pole was installed outside Denny Hall on the University of Washington campus, Sven Haakanson (Sugpiaq/Alutiiq) had a vision.
A Native Alaskan, Haakanson understands the importance of recognizing a land’s native peoples. So, when he looked around the UW’s Seattle campus, he found himself wondering: Where is the Coast Salish community? The Burke Museum houses Coast Salish pieces, he said, and there are small works in other buildings. But representation was noticeably missing from the actual grounds.
Al Charles (Lower Elwha Klallam), Tyson Simmons (Muckleshoot) and Keith Stevenson (Muckleshoot) carved the story pole that’s now on the UW campus. Credit: Sven Haakanson
Haakanson, a UW professor of anthropology, wanted to change that. He first started by talking to Al Charles, a carver from the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe, and then to Tyson Simmons and Keith Stevenson, of the Muckleshoot Tribe, to get their thoughts on bringing a story pole to the UW. They were all on board, but Haakanson didn’t approach the university until about a year later.
A celebration of the story pole will be held by the carvers on Sept. 18. The Coast Salish ceremony consists of one speaker and invited witnesses who will observe the dedication of the story pole to the space. The carvers will then offer gifts to those who worked behind the scenes to bring the pole to campus. “We should be educating ourselves about where we are,” Haakanson said. “Having the story pole there for all of us to learn from, celebrate and enjoy is another wonderful way of learning about the tribes that are here.”
B-roll of the pole installation is also available for use.
He had just been offered the position to chair the Department of Anthropology. While discussing ways to retain him at the UW, Haakanson asked for a story pole to be commissioned for the UW Seattle campus.
“It was kind of an odd ask for retention,” Haakkanson said. “But this is a wonderful way to promote, lift up and celebrate the Coast Salish peoples, whose land we’re on.”
Coast Salish refers to a language family and indicates the cultural group of Indigenous peoples who speak or spoke these languages. Coast Salish peoples have lived in present-day western Washington and southwestern British Columbia for more than 10,000 years. The UW is located on land that touches the shared waters of the Suquamish, Tulalip and Muckleshoot nations.
The Coast Salish people carve story poles, while totem poles are a broader category of carved wooden monuments from the Pacific Northwest. Story poles were specifically created to share and teach Coast Salish legends, histories and stories.
“Story poles are meant to tell stories,” Haakanson said. “With totem poles, they are talking about their clans and their histories. Story poles are about histories, as well, but the Coast Salish have used story poles to tell a story about an event, a legend or where we are now.
“We see a lot of totem poles here, but totem poles are from up north. I love what totem poles represent, and I love the symbolism, but we should also be supporting local communities in their form, in their way. This is one way for students and visitors to learn about who the Coast Salish peoples are.”
Charles, Simmons and Stevenson submitted a proposal for the pole, which Haakanson then relayed to the university. The project was approved, and work on the log started a year and a half ago.
“The carvers turned this from a vision into the story pole itself,” Haakanson said. “They put in not just a lot of time and work, but also so much care and thought. To me, it’s not just a phenomenal piece of art but a celebration of the Coast Salish peoples.”
The title of the story pole is skʷatač dxʷʔal x̌ʷəlč, which translates to “From the Mountain to the Coast Salish Sea.” From the top down, images on the pole are Mount Rainier, women’s weavings, the thunderbird holding two orcas, four salmon that represent four rivers, Coast Salish peoples and the Coast Salish Sea.
Carving of the story pole that’s now installed on the UW campus began a year and a half ago. Credit: Sven Haakanson
The aluminum back features the North Star at the top and water and mountains in formline art in the middle. Underneath are three canoe prows from the Northwest Coast, the Salish Coast and the West Coast.
“What I really loved about the story pole is it celebrates and recognizes the original peoples and symbolizes our responsibility, as the community now, to care for our environment from the mountains to the sea.” Haakanson said. “They have this symbolism embedded in the story pole.”
For more information, please contact Haakanson at svenh@uw.edu.