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One day early in the spring, I was working in the carving lodge. The Raven had let the Sun be hot that day, and the Earth was warming. As I looked around, I could feel the eyes of somebody watching; someone interested in the warm tones of the cedar wood that I was searching through for inspiration of the day. Stopping and standing quietly, I could sense the mountain frog who was behind me observing, curiously interested in what may be my quest. In the moment as it stretched into the sunlight of warmth, I asked the wise frog as to what would be the noblest inspiration for the creation of an artwork to empower this place where I live? The frog enjoying the morning sunlight with me, resting and taking his time to speak, with the sun warming his body. The wise frog speaks, he speaks of the relationship between animals and human beings, and is represented as the frog of wisdom at the base of the totem. And then he exercises the realization that even the Great Spirit began in it's animal form. Hence through the strength, knowledge and wisdom, each human is to become the caretaker of our villages and valleys, mountains and oceans. The human native represents this challenge, and is positioned just above the Frog of wisdom. To protect the right of Mother Earth to be our caretaker, we see Mother Earth represented as the Bear just above the human. Here she expresses her right to dominate the action of giving and taking for human beings in their mortality and she holds the unlearned, un-human savage in her mouth. Each clan of the animal, the human and the ancestor, are interwoven in this fabric of life, here represented as the wolf just above Mother Bear. The wolf personifies the many clans, and even though our villages have many fathers, we all share the same Grandfather. And in the Happy Hunting Grounds of this life and many to come, you will find the spirit of Luck and Freedom, which is expressed here on the totem in the form of the Wood-Pecker. In constant observation the Owl rises above, as to be the animal watcher; seeing with the power of remembrance. The Owl preserves the energies of change. The wise Owl knows that the direction of change comes to those who know the ways of the past, seek the ways of the future, and live the ways of the moment. And to protect the values with strength and common sense, stands the Eagle atop the totem, to listen, interpret and enact the freedoms of the Valley of the Eagles.
Eric Singleton - Artist
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