THE TALES BEHIND THE TOTEMS

The cover of the book, which pole carver Dale Faulstich, writer Joan Worley and aerial photographer David Woodcock teamed up to create. Photo by Avani Nadkarni=

Dale Faulstich offers a peek into tribal heritage

by AVANI NADKARNI
Staff writer

When a visitor enters the carving shed occupied by carver Dale Faulstich and his three-person crew, he can often have a shock to all his senses — the scents of wood and paint waft throughout the building, and the cracking and scraping of wood echoes.

Faulstich calls the shed, which lies on the northwest corner of the S’Klallam Tribal Center, just yards away from Sequim Bay, his home away from home. He spends around 10 hours per day there most of the days of the week, researching, carving and painting.

The job is seemingly an interesting choice for Faulstich, who grew up in Missouri and had no connection to either native art or the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe until moving to Sequim in the 1970s. He has been the head carver for the tribe for the past 15 years.

“I was initially attracted to native art (because) I’d go to museums and something about it just called to me,” Faulstich said, as he chips away at a pole with a dagger-like instrument.

Faulstich now can stake claim to many of the poles seen around the Sequim area — along with his team, he designed and created the poles seen at the 7 Cedars Casino and along the tribal center and he is creating several more for The Cedars at Dungeness golf course and the Olympic Discovery Trail.

“I spend a lot of time doing basic research,” he said. “The carving and painting are the easy parts.”

About two years ago, Faulstich said, he met with tribal chairman Ron Allen, who approached him with an idea: Since Faulstich was the only one who really knew the stories behind the poles, Allen wanted him to record them somehow.
“Originally, we just talked about a pamphlet,” Faulstich recalled.

The idea spiraled and the carver ended up teaming with Sequim freelance writer Joan Worley and aerial photographer David Woodcock to create “Totem Poles of the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe,” a 50-page glossy book of pictures, stories and legends.

Faulstich calls the shed where he and his crew — full-timers Nathan Gilles and Bud Turner, and part-timer Harry Burlingame — work a “one stop shopping” experience.

“I do the research, we do the carving and painting and even install the poles,” said Faulstich, who also creates poles for private homes or art galleries in Sequim, Port Townsend and Seattle.

According to Faulstich, the poles, which are preferably made out of old-growth western red cedar wood, can sell for up to $5,000 per square foot. One 7 1/2-foot totem pole he sold at a gallery in Seattle went for $38,000, a chunk of which went to the gallery.

In Faulstich’s studio at the moment are two finished poles that are waiting to be installed at The Cedars at Dungeness golf course, one that is privately commissioned and two that need the carving and painting completed before they are installed on the Olympic Discovery Trail.

Although Faulstich said he and his crew often climb right on top of the poles when they are lying horizontally to check for symmetry, he is somewhat anxious right up until the time the pole is in its final position.

“You never know if you did it right until it is installed,” Faulstich said, patting one of his finished totem poles. “You never know if it’ll look good.”



The tools of the trade
Dale Faulstich and his crew don’t just have a knife and a bucket of paint — it takes many tools, often special-ordered, to create his legendary totem poles.

Faulstich revealed drawers chock-full of knives and carving tools, all just slightly different than the last and all necessary for the end result. Many of the tools are very similar to the ones Native Americans used hundreds of years ago, he said.

One, which is a wooden handle with a curved metal blade, would have been created back then using wood and a beaver’s tooth.

“To have the traditional finish on the totem poles, you can’t use duplicate it with any other tool but the one they used years ago,” Faulstich said. “Now, instead of the stone they would have used, the blade is metal.”

Faulstich uses specially formulated paint from California to paint the poles. It is 100-percent acrylic, similar to the paint used by other artists but it is formulated to be anti-mildew and has ultraviolet light inhibitors.

“With these, the pole has a good 15 years before it even starts to fade,” he said.


“Totem Poles of the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe” by Dale Faulstich, Joan Worley and David Woodcock is available at the 7 Cedars Casino, the Northwest Native Expressions Gallery, or online at www.JamestownTribe.com or Amazon.com.