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Art and the Rain
Forest
"They were bleached to a pinkish silver colour and cracked by the sun, but nothing could make them mean or poor...." So wrote Emily Carr in Klee Wyck, of the poles at Skedans that inspired some of her most famous paintings. An old pole in an old place is a sombre sight, but those being carved today will not meet the same fate, mouldering away in abandoned communities. Nineteenth century poles were set deep in rock-lined holes and fell in 50 to 100 years. The same rainfall that permits the growth of huge trees facilitates their decay. Entering at ground level or through areas of end-grain, water supports insects, fungi and bacteria. Decaying wood in turn supports new plant growth. New poles are no longer set in the ground. They are suspended from a metal support attached to the back with room at the bottom for air to circulate. Some of the poles in Thunderbird Park at the RBCM have metal caps to protect the exposed end-grain from our 650 mm (25 inches) of annual rainfall, and there are plans to cap the others. In the past, old poles have been brought to the Museum. These are kept indoors. They have been allowed to dry completely and are no longer at risk of delay. Although traditionally poles were highlighted with colour, coating an outdoor wooden sculpture with paint or varnish can cause more problems than it solves. The coating protects only as long as the surface is unbroken. Flaking paint can carry away weathered wood and allow moisture to become trapped inside the sculpture, leading to rapid fungal growth. To see the only traditional Northwest Coast village site with standing totem and mortuary poles means a trip to Skung Gwaii (Ninstints). There, conservators from the RBCM have helped devise and implement a maintenance plan to preserve the poles in situ. Otherwise, let your imagination take you into Skedans village as George Dawson photographed it in 1878. The model on the third floor of the Museum preserves our contact with that lost community in a way that conservators never can. For more information or advice on this topic, please contact your local museum, art gallery or archives. |
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