The Tlingit people are artistic by nature and some folks would argue that their fine sense of workmanship and design is best exemplified through the medium of carving. Most Tlingit objects were carved from wood, the most readily available and a highly usable substance. Other materials such as horn, copper and later silver were also decorated with carved figures.

The unique design elements or patterns used by traditional Tlingit carvers belong to what has become known as the Northwest Coast Indian style. This style, quite easily recognizable, portrayed creatures from the natural world in varying degrees of realism. Often they were split or fragmented with eyes, joints, fins, feathers or some other easily recognizable feature delineated with broad black formlines. Traditional colors were a green-blue and red. The Northwest Coast Indian style, present form Yakutat to Washington State has subtle stylistic differences in each region. Tlingit motifs may be classified as Northern Northwest coast Indian art, a distinct style seen from approximately Bella Coola to Yakutat Bay.

At one time Tlingit carving was considered important by the outside world for its ethnological value. However, at the San Francisco Exposition of 1939, and later at a 1941 exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, Tlingit carving was displayed as art. Now it is a widely acknowledged art form highly praised by art lovers worldwide. Many modern Tlingit artists continue to carve in the traditional style.

Small totem pole

Tlingit carvers concentrated their most decorative efforts on ceremonial and shamanic art. Staffs, masks and rattles were decorated for potlatch songs and dances and for other rituals such as healing conducted by the shaman. The most lavishly carved eating utensils and bowls were saved for potlatches while those used for everyday meals were simply decorated. Carved bentwood boxes stored food supplies, ceremonial clothing, or were used for cooking by dropping hot stones into a box filled with water. Huge screens, used to divide the living quarters within a house, were ornately carved, often with a family crest.

Houseposts and Totem poles - Figures, or totems, carved on totem poles are comparable to family crests and are used to tell a story, legend, event, tradition, etc. The totemic symbols are usually animal -a bear, eagle or killer whale for example. Their significance comes from some mythical time when they affected the destiny of a groups ancestors. Perhaps an early clan was aided by some creature to ward off starvation or make an important discovery like fire.

To understand the meaning of a carved story pole, it would be necessary to know what those who commissioned it intended it to mean. Sometimes the story has been passed down correctly to the present generation and sometimes it has been altered or lost.

Canoes - Canoes were the major means of transportation for coastal Tlingits. Small canoes were made for both men and women, large ocean-going canoes were owned by family groups. Great skill was required to carve a dugout canoe such as the one on exhibit at the museum. First an appropriate tree was selected, cottonwood for a small canoe and red or yellow cedar for a larger one. Red cedar was the favored wood, but it grows mainly in the land of the Haida Indians south of Tlingit territory. The Tlingits traded with the Haidas for the prized large cedar.

The log was first hollowed out with an adz then shaped by a process which involved filling it with water heated to a near boil with hot rocks. Hot steam penetrated the log making it soft and workable. At this point thwarts were forced between the sides, pushing them to the desired shape. The boat was then dried and smoked over a pitch fire that also blackened the wood. In the case of larger canoes, separate pieces were added to form the high prow and stern. Large canoes often had a carved figure on the prow and some were painted with crests and emblems. A waterproof, durable paint was made by mixing minerals, salmon eggs and chewed spruce gum and applied with a bear or porcupine hairbrush.

Billman, Esther. Tlingit Bull. Num. 1. Sitka: Sheldon Jackson Museum Press. 1975.