Emily Carr University Unveils Totem Pole Art Installation

The Aboriginal Gathering Place at Emily Carr University hosted an Indigenous cultural ceremony to unveil the ‘Pacific Song of the Ancestors’ totem pole, a breathtaking new, permanent art installation.

The collaborative work by Master Carvers Dempsey Bob (Tahltan-Tlingit), Stan Bevan (Tahltan-Tlingit and Tsimshian) and Lyonel Grant (Māori and Pakeha) began nearly a decade ago and embodies the spirit of community building, Indigenous interrelationships and reverence for the diverse Indigenous cultures within B.C. and beyond.

The project is rooted in a longstanding connection between the Aboriginal Gathering Place (AGP) at Emily Carr University and communities in northern B.C. that began when Brenda Crabtree oversaw the creation of an articulation agreement with the Freda Diesing School of Northwest Coast Art. This agreement allows Indigenous students to ladder into a degree program at ECU — Canada’s top-ranked school for art and design and one of the best worldwide.

The 25-foot, 2,600-pound pole was primarily carved in Bevan’s studio in Terrace, B.C. with contributions from local carvers and students from the Freda Diesing School, who worked as apprentices. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Bob and Bevan intensified their focus on the pole. Crabtree surmises this newly found time to “hover” and develop the project led to the pole’s exceptional refinement and superb sculptural character. 

In the summer of 2021, the pole was transported to Emily Carr University and craned up to the main floor where it lay covered at the AGP. The following summer in 2022, Bob and Bevan worked to complete the pole alongside visiting artist Lyonel Grant from New Zealand.

We helped Emily Carr University with a media relations campaign, including pitching to media, an event advisory, media release, media advisory, and support for artist interviews with the media.