Salford Totem Pole
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Posted by guest on 16th July 2010 at 10:44 PM
Mission Accomplished: Salford Totem Pole complete
by Tom Rodgers

It's been a long hard slog to get us here, in a journey that's taken us from a shadowy lock up in Broughton to London town and back, but the Salford Totem Pole is finally completed.

Fully painted in the traditional Kwakwaka'wakw colours of black, red and green, this 32ft cedar pole has been hoisted into the Lowry Outlet Mall, cleaned, patched, shaved, airbrushed and more.

The final painting and finishing touches took place at the Museum of Museums (MoM) in Trafford Park.

It is believed at this stage that the Salford Totem Pole will remain there as a tourist attraction until a permanent home is found for it in Salford next summer.

The MoM is where the three inidigenous First Nation Canadian Indian artists: Bruce Alfred, Kevin Cranmer and Edgar Cranmer worked 12 hour days to bring this project full-circle.

And it's not only those three who've been involved since the start.

Swinton crane company Armquest took it upon themselves to courier the Totem Pole in between the various locations around Greater Manchester and beyond, Burnaby's stonemasons lent the use of their high-tech equipment to airbrush the pole to a shiny finish, and there are many more businesses and companies who will deserve a mention.

Big thanks must go to Councillor Steve Coen, Tony Thornborough and the sadly departed Joe Martin (City of Salford Conservation Officer) who brought the Salford Totem Pole to our attention all those months ago.

Thanks must of course go to Doug Cranmer, who carved the pole. As Bruce notes "He was not only an artist ahead of his time, he worked quickly. From the raw log to completion was only about a month. He carved a foot a week utilising tools like the powersaw. This totem pole was one of 12 he completed that year."

Bruce, who has been overseeing the project, is an internationally acclaimed artist in his own right, working and carving in places as diverse as Japan and London, painting bird masks carved by Doug for collectors in the American cities of Denver and Seattle.

Now the only thing to do is sit back and marvel at this fabulous piece of Salford heritage and to thank our Canadian friends for all their hard work.

Thanks also to all our readers and viewers for taking this project to heart, and supporting us with kind words and comments throughout the length of this epic saga.

And finally, a note to our regular readers - there's a huge amount of unseen and unused footage of the Pole that we'll be compiling into a special Salford Totem Pole feature, which we hope will play alongside the Pole when it is finally installed on Salford Quays next summer.

Salford Totem Pole song reproduced with kind permission from Pete Martin

Report as offensive or innapropriate Comment by Guest  18th August 2010
It seldom get better than this, amazing.

Report as offensive or innapropriate Comment by Guest  17th August 2010
HAVING A INTEREST IN NORTHWEST COAST ART, I FOUND THIS INCREDIBLE, WELL DONE TO ALL INVOLVED,

Report as offensive or innapropriate Comment by Guest  3rd August 2010
Please keep the totem pole in Salford where it belongs.

Report as offensive or innapropriate Comment by Guest  3rd August 2010
This song should be released as a song, its quality.

Report as offensive or innapropriate Comment by Guest  21st July 2010
So glad that the Copper Moon Gallery in Nanaimo Canada was able to put the coucillors together with these wonderful carvers. They have some beautiful work by Bruce and Kevin.Congratulations to all of you who worked so hard to re dedicate this amazing artwork

Report as offensive or innapropriate Comment by Guest  19th July 2010
Absolutely brilliant piece of work. Love the mix of interview, video and the song. Very well done!

Report as offensive or innapropriate Comment by Guest  18th July 2010
Simply brilliant, well done, again!

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