Oscar Maltipi Totem Pole in Stanley Park, Vancouver, BC, Canada
The Oscar Maltipi Totem Pole is a beautiful, highly colorful totem pole displaying prominent traditional lineage figures, including the mythical soaring Thunderbird and a detailed killer whale carving.
Plaque Transcription
OSCAR MALTIPI POLE
FIRST NATIONS ORIGIN STORIES TELL OF THE ANIMALS AND supernatural beings who helped found family lineages. These stories are celebrated in songs, dances, and totem pole carvings. Kwakwaka'wakw artist Oscar Maltipi carved this pole in 1968. Originally from Turnour Island, Maltipi trained at the Royal BC Museum under artist and teacher Henry Hunt.
Photo caption: Dancers from Alert Bay celebrate raising the new Wakas pole at Stanley Park, 1987.
Crest Architecture
The structural layout illustration panel displayed at the Brockton Point site maps out the primary figures on this specific pole:
- Thunderbird: Seated prominently at the top apex anchor of the column.
- Killer Whale: Positioned directly underneath the Thunderbird talons.
Photo Gallery
Where is the Oscar Maltipi Totem Pole?
The Oscar Maltipi Totem Pole is on public display alongside the other master carvings within the main First Nations Totem Poles meadow exhibition fields at Brockton Point in Stanley Park, Vancouver, BC, Canada.