One-string Totem

I had been studying Alaskan totem poles not long before I found this long aqua 4x4 on the Tiburon waterfront. This handsome piece of fir had apparently been used as part of a padded roller apparatus for some marine application. The totem paradigm didn't consciously come to mind until I had cleaned up the piece, decided to mount it vertically, and affixed the half-moon-shaped slab of oak that provides the piece's only horizontal element. With these elements in place, the ultimate configuration of the piece began to evolve.

The translucent black cube used as the base provides an ethereal grounding element which nevertheless does not detract from the vertical solidity of the rest of the piece; both this cube and the plastic-sheathed steel cable that adds aviable musical component came together comparatively quickly once the other elements were in place.


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