Post #387922 by congatiki on Wed, Jun 18, 2008 3:52 PM

Hi Tikimango, welcome aboard.
I started carving my version of tikis a few years ago, and I've also delved
fairly deeply into NW Pacific Coast totems. Bigbro would have to respond for
himself but I do not believe he was referring to NW totems. They are clearly
not tiki, but there are some stylistic similarities in the carvings that
blend well with tiki art. I do not feel the "example" he pointed out are
even remotely NW Pacific Coast style, they are "big teeth" style images
that generally are considered Tiki by the mainstream peeps.
NW Coast totems are a distinct style of very high art, and while "not tiki"
they should not be compared with the recent barrage of tiki material that I
think Bigbro refers to.
At any rate welcome to TC...my only intention here is to not lump NW Coast
carving into this discussion...those guys can really carve....and it's an
art form that deserves respect of the highest level. But definitely not tiki.