Nicholas Galanin and Gordon Greenwald will lead the carving of two additional totem poles for Juneau’s Kootéeyaa Deiyí, or Totem Pole Trail.
Galanin, based in Sitka, and Greenwald, a Hoonah resident, seek to expand knowledge of Indigenous art and carving through the project by taking on apprentices.
“They will probably have very little actual experience in carving, maybe some formline knowledge,” Greenwald said. “I’ll be trying to take them from the very beginning; on how to do two-dimensional formline drawing, to the point of doing three-dimensional carving.”
The carvers plan to use red cedar to complete the totems as part of Sealaska Heritage Institute’s Kootéeyaa Deiyí project downtown. Sealaska Heritage has raised 12 of the 30 planned totems for the trail that were dedicated in April 2023. The new totem poles are scheduled to be raised by next summer.
Greenwald has completed 13 totem poles for a multitude of projects, including leading the carving project of the Huna Tribal House in Glacier Bay, completed in 2016. He also helped carve the veterans’ totem pole “For Holding up the Warriors” in 2021, which was put up in Hoonah.
He’ll be working on carving his totem throughout the course of the next year, aiming for March 2026 for completion, after which it will be transferred to Juneau. He has taught Indigenous art for more than 20 years.
“I don’t anticipate making extremely skilled carvers; they’re going to be very basic at the completion of this project,” he said.
“Hopefully we’ll be imparting the knowledge that will inspire them to continue on and to grow and become more accomplished artists and carvers,” he continued.
One of Nicholas Galanin’s completed totem poles, the Kaagwaantaan pole located in downtown Juneau as part of the Kootéeyaa Deiyí, on March 17, 2025. (Photo by Molly Johnson)
Galanin, who has already helped complete one of the totem poles on Kootéeyaa Deiyí, has been training for this work since he was young.
“We always say a totem pole takes 15,000 years to make, including the knowledge. The actual process of a project like this is about 10 months,” he explained.
He helped carve the Kaagwaantaan pole, which was part of the April 2023 dedication.
“It’s a slow process,” Galanin said. “It’s not like sculpting with clay, where you can remove and add onto it.”
The process of choosing and taking on apprentices has only just begun, and once they’ve been hired, the process of designing, teaching the art of formline, and carving the totems will start.
“There’s a saying that is fairly accurate in this process; measure twice, cut once.”
When deciding designs for these poles, Galanin said, “balance is very important.”
“There’s history that is represented in our art forms…there’s ownership of clan crests that belong to specific clans…sometimes we’ll work with elders to represent their house or clan in the best way possible.”
“The importance of doing these projects is that the knowledge gets passed on,” Galanin said.
• Molly Johnson can be contacted via editor@juneauempire.com
