CONQUERGOOD CREATIVE
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Totems

2003 Totem Pole by Conquergood Creative
2003 Totem

The Story of the Totems

In the summer of 2003 I designed and carved a totem about 16 feet tall to tell the story of our family. It is located at Balsam Lake, Ontario. The central characters represent my daughter (The Bear), my wife (The Squirrel) and myself (The Owl). The thunderbird is our family pet Darcy, an African Grey parrot and the lower character (The Big Fish, Nahma)  represents where we met.The totem  is made from western red cedar. Each character was carved separately and assembled to make the final pole.

Four years later, in 2007, I designed and built the second totem to commemorate my wife's family. The base of this pole has graphic symbols to represent the many business that the Murray family has operated on Balsam Lake in Ontario over the years. The four characters represent my wife (The Squirrel, and the only character on both poles), her brother (The Raccoon), her mother (The Fox) and her father (The Loon). This totem stand close to the other and is also about 16 feet tall and was built using the same techniques the previous.


2007 totem pole by Conquergood Creative
2007 Totem

​Wedding Totems

When my daughter was married I wanted to do something to welcome my future son-in-law into the sculpted family. It wasn't suitable to carve a new totem pole since there likely would be children in the future and they would be left out of the work. So for a wedding gift, unveiled on the dessert table at the reception, I made these two figures for their garden. My daughter had to remain the bear, since that was her character on the existing pole, but I selected an otter for my son-in-law due to his playful nature.

The characters are about two feet tall and actually remain in their house where they get photos taken with the grandchildren and get costumed for special occasions
Picture

Totem Photo Gallery

Conquergood Creative
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  • Home
  • Automata Blog
  • Automata Gallery
    • The Chase
    • Baa Baa Bad Sheep! >
      • Baa Baa Bad Sheep Photo Gallery
    • The Penguins' Revenge
    • Cirque de Poulet
    • I'm Thinking & Laura
    • The Bipolar Brain
    • Tempest in a Teacup
    • Inner Demon
    • Sewer Rat Symphony >
      • Musican Profiles
    • The Captive
    • Bored Out of My Skin
    • Waiting at the Clinic
    • The Diagnosis
    • Snowbirds
    • The Not So Early Bird - The Common Sleptin
    • 1 HP Heart Pump
    • The Trojan Cat
    • 7-1/2 Horsepower
    • Howdy!
    • The Bus Stop
    • Rhinoceros Racing
    • It's an Uphill Battle
    • When an MRI Goes Badly
    • A Moment of Silence
    • Who Slew the Chicken?
    • The Dentist's Office
    • Owl Hijinx
    • Horse of a Different Colour >
      • Horse of a Different Colour Features & Specs
      • Horse of a Different Colour Photo Gallery
    • March of the Penguins
    • The Extraction >
      • The Extraction Media Gallery
    • Poultry in Motion
    • School's Out!
    • Pond Life >
      • Pond Life Photo Gallery
    • Rat Co. >
      • Rat Co. Employee Profiles
      • Rat Co. Photo Gallery
    • Happy Birthday Daddy! >
      • Happy Features & Specs
      • Happy Birthday Photo Gallery
    • The Raving Fans
    • The Waiting Room >
      • Waiting Room Photo Gallery
    • Cottage Cabernet
    • Neighbourhood Watch
    • Check Please!
    • Fishing >
      • Fishing Photo Gallery
      • The Mechanism
      • Brutus the Catfish
      • Crawford the Crayfish
      • Bigmouth the Largemouth Bass
      • Buddy the Chocolate Lab
      • Gertrude and Heathcliff
    • Ian's African Lion Safari
    • Call Before You Dig >
      • Features & Specs
    • Crossing The Mara >
      • Features & Specs
    • Migrating Caribou >
      • Features & Specs
    • Rocket Pack Raccoon
    • Urban Terrorists >
      • Exploring the Urban Terrorists
      • Features & Specs
    • Top Gun
    • Miss Communication
    • Hula Hoop Girl
    • Java Jane
    • The Cranky Caterpillar
    • A Case in Point...
    • The Leafs Score!
    • Enough With The Fish!
  • Learning Centre
  • Automata Store
  • Workshop Tour!
    • Sanding
    • Drilling
    • Cutting
    • Measurement
    • Carving Tools
    • Hand Tools
    • Working With Brass
    • Work & Assembly Areas
  • Mechanisms, Tip & Tricks
    • The Why and How Of It!
  • Who Am I?
    • Making Automata
  • Contact Me
  • In The News
  • Links
  • The South Bay Railway
    • Murray's Mill
    • Rivers, Creeks & Ponds
    • Early Days Photo Gallery
    • Layout Photo Gallery
    • Layout
  • Totems
  • Some Other Small Projects
    • Misc Projects
  • Driving Home for Christmas
    • Designing the Float
    • A Penguin Prototype
    • The Human Flock
    • The Float Penguins
    • The Float Video
  • Members Page