Aside from Witco, who made Witco-like tiki stuff?

I'm trying to nail down who made the various Witco-like tiki masks, etc. back...whenever that was. I've been told there was at least one artist that worked for Witco but split off on his own. Its also logical to assume that if Witco had commercial success, they might have had unrelated imatators that copied the style. I know that the burnt wood finish was popular; what I don't know is if other manufacturers did tiki in that style and who they were.
For starters, would anyone (Boutiki?) know who made the mask or shield shown on page vi of Tiki Quest? Has anyone found a Witco-like piece with another maker's identification attached?

Hey Tikijackalope, My wife showed Bill the masks he said they were not Witco. He says there were people who worked at Witco, then quit, and tried to do it on there own. I dont think they were too successful but there are some knock offs out there.

Thanks, Keigs! Any names of carvers or companies to give us? Can you give us, at your leisure, a brief chronology of Witco, especially as it related to tiki carvings? I know we "ask Keigs" for a lot of information, but I'm sure many appreciate having an expert on hand as much as I do.

Here are some photos of a few Witco style tiki carvings. The first 3 are marked with the name Gale Haner, Tacoma, WA.

A standing tiki, which has a metal tag on the back with the Gale Haner name:

A tiki mask, also with the metal name tag on the back:

The 2nd mask below has the name branded in the wood on the back:

Finding similar style carvings has become just as much fun as finding Witco pieces...I wonder just how many are out there. I have a few others, both marked with a name and unmarked. Here's one (less tiki and more abstract) marked "The Woodcarver, Arlington, WA, 1963 on the back :

And another, unmarked, with the Space Needle :

Keigs' explanation that similar style carvings could have been done by
former Witco employees is probably the reason for both the Gale Haner name
and Woodcarver name, as both are local Washington locations. These were all
found in the Seattle/Tacoma area. I'd love to see what other folks have found...
has anyone else found any Gale Haner tikis ?

[ Edited by: puamana on 2004-08-06 11:16 ]

Also, a side view of the tiki :

I also have a "The Woodcarver" piece. It is a colorful scool of fish with a few raised wood fish. My Hawaiian Island carvings aren't Witco but sure look it. I enjoy my knock-offs just as much because, I too, enjoy the style. I liked it before I ever knew what Witco was. My non-Witco pieces are very well made but I have seen some pretty bad carvings trying to copy the Witco style.

Thanks Laney and Puamana, that was the very kind of information I was after. Puamana, if you have Tiki Quest, check out page vi; there's a mask there that looks very similar to yours. And that big tiki is cool.
The masks Keigs was refering to as having been shown to Bill are some badly painted ones I picked up last month, but they have no identification attached. I've hesitantly worked on only one:

The woodgrain kinda reminds me of the special effects in the Predator movies so I obviously need to stain it or something. Before I blew off the outer burned/stained layer along with the paint, it was quite dark like the wood visible on the one below.
Here's what it looked like before: http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=10106&forum=7&1
And here's another style I have:

Laney, I know what you mean by liking the stuff for just what it is. I've got a toad done in the Witco style that I've loved since I was five years old. It was my grandmother's and she left it to me. I, also, have seen the style done badly. I saw some ducks that were decent a few months ago, but the maker felt they needed cheap plastic eyes which kinda ruined them.
I couldn't find anything with google on Gale Haner; anyone else have some Witco-like stuff?

[ Edited by: tikijackalope on 2004-08-25 14:34 ]

I didn't really want to start a new thread...

Did Witco make a large galleon? I saw a wooden galleon (schooner...frigate...Man O' War...I won't pretend to know the difference)in an antique shop that looked very "Witco-ish." It was huge.

Ring a bell with anyone?

Kono, did it look like this?

No, this one was fully three dimensional. There was a base that sort of looked like driftwood that was designed to be mounted to the wall and would jut out maybe 9-12 inches or perhaps more. On the base rested the entire ship. It had two or three masts which had several sails that were furled (is that the right word?) with the wind. Every bit of it was made of wood and sort of looked like maybe it could be taken apart. It just had that Witco look. I should've just bought it, it was cheap enough, but I don't have anywhere to put it!

Baaa! There's always room for a Witco or
Witco-like. Yes, even the viking and conquistador carvings. If you do go back and buy it I hope you can share some pictures with us. :tiki:

[ Edited by: DawnTiki on 2004-08-07 21:53 ]

On 2004-08-07 21:45, DawnTiki wrote:
...even the viking and conquistador carvings.

Yeah, maybe it was a Spanish Galleon, part of the Conquistador series. :)

I forgot to mention, it didn't have that dark burn't look that most Witco pieces have. It was lighter in color. It had that Witco heavy wood grain thing going for it though.

On 2004-08-07 20:08, Kono wrote:

Did Witco make a large galleon? I saw a wooden galleon (schooner...frigate...Man O' War...I won't pretend to know the difference)in an antique shop that looked very "Witco-ish." It was huge.

Witco made lots of three masters, four masters, galleons, and the like, but as framed wall hangings. But I remember one galleon sculpture in the catalogues. And "huge" sounds like Witco, too. Chances are that's a real Witco.

Also, the two years before they went bust, Witco turned to blonde wood to try to keep up with the Swedish Modern look, but, alas...

bigbrotiki wrote;

Also, the two years before they went bust, Witco turned to blonde wood to try to keep up with the Swedish Modern look, but, alas...

What year did they go bust?

No identifying marks.....the fish are smooth and the dark lines on them appear to be burned and not painted.

I found this photo of Gale Haner carvings on the Tacoma library site, so I thought I'd add it to this post, It's only been 6 years since the last post. :)


aloha, Tikicoma

A-mazing find, thank you! Man, this must have so "burned" the Wilrongo Trio! What a direct, undisguised rip off!

obvious rip offs indeed., but they do seem to have a little more attention to detail and a little bit more refined as carvings. The girl is much cleaner than most witco's Ive seen!!

On 2011-05-16 14:22, kirby wrote:
The girl is much cleaner than most witco's Ive seen!!

I wasn't aware that Witco used dirty girls a models!

Aaaahaaa, I crack myself up! - No, but seriously, it is true, the few Gale Haner carvings I have seen in person are quite solid and well carved. I believe he never got ramped up to the level of assembly line production that Witco did, so more care could be taken with each piece.

aloha, I just got done talking to Gale's oldest son (he's 76) and he told me that he remembers that his dad was carving and painting when he (the son) was 5 years old (1940). He also told me that his never worked for anyone else. What spurred me on was this,

I saw this mask last weekend on a house across from a burger joint I started going to so I knocked on the door to ask about it. The gal who answered turned out to have been a former manager of the Tiki apartments (opened in '64). She sold it to me and said they found 2 masks under the apts and these "placks" (that they put back up}

under the apts next door, also owned by the same people. Jerry who owns Jungle Fever Exotics nursery told me that his parents also managed the Tiki's early in the '80's (when I was living at the Polynesia Village apts) and that similar masks were on all the apt doors. I asked Gale's son and he said his dad did these and also their tiki's (maybe unsure about the tikis there and also (maybe) at the Hawaiian Village apts in Lakewood).

and this tiki that has the same face carved on both sides! (it has a very thick trunk and is bigger than it looks in the pic)

The bar stool that the gal is sitting on in the photo I first added to this thread is still in the possession of the son. I'll be talking to him this weekend and asked to see any carvings/photos he and his family can gather (he did lots of carvings that weren't tiki)
So, I picked up this cedar tiki (about 5 feet tall) 14 years ago now I'm wondering if it was also a Haner?

thanks for looking, tikicoma

Whoaaaaa, this is HUGE! That would make Gale Haner not a mere copycat, but an equal to William Westenhaver - at least locally, in Washington state. AND it would explain why, as Kirby noted, his Witco-esque carvings showed so much craftsmanship.

And you actually lived IN the Polynesia Apartments in Tacoma? Wow, those were STUDDED with Tikis! What is their address again?
I photographed a bunch of their Tikis in 1994 when I was up there shooting some Yamaha commercials.

I have to confess that I have treated Washington Tiki apartments kind of step-fatherly in my publications, because they were lacking the architectural flourish of the Southern California A-frames as well as the tropical landscaping. But I was always curious WHO had carved all those pine logs!

Because yes, it was apparent to me that ONE artiste had also done the Tiki at the Tiki Apts...

(no trace of other Tikis there in '94!)

...and the Tikis at the Kona Village Apts in Bremerton!:

The Kona Village had these simple masks plastered along the buildings...

...which were impressive because of their sheer numbers:

The best thing there was the front (see also BOT page 226):

...where on the left we can see the SAME wooden cut out Tiki than the ones you found at the Tiki Apts!:

I wonder what the panel one on the right looked like painted!

If Gale Haner did indeed do all this, he is up there with the rest of them like Guanko, Bumatay, Ellis, Schmaltz, Crissman, Westenhaver and West! Please try to unearth photographic evidence from the son, memory gets hazy over time, even among direct family members. Ask if he has any paperwork of his dad's jobs left, too.

I now even would say that maybe he also did the strange cut out gods at the Tongaroa Apts in Bremerton:

Though they are a little different in style...

And why not the big mask at the Islander Apts in Seattle?:

I think YOUR Tiki looks very much like a cross between one of his apartment Tikis and his faux Witco Tikis.
Is that two-faced Tiki and those others sitting out at the Tiki Apts?

If you can find more proof from the son, this will be an important advance in American Tiki history! :)

PS: I had forgotten I had posted some of this here 5 years ago:

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=18004&forum=1&6

Well, since then I figured out how to improve on the scanning of my slides! :)

....and I checked the address for the Polynesia Apts, and low and behold, it was one of several Washington area apartments which were ALSO supplied with artifacts from Oceanic Arts. It must have been a fine Tiki temple in the 60s and 70s:

Well it looks like who carved the Tikis at the various apartments around here is still a mystery. Gale Haners son did have photos, mostly masks, a budha, the nude girl, birds and some of the stuff that was in the newspaper photo, but no Tikis. When I last spoke with him he said he didn't think any of his dads carvings were bigger than five foot tall. but I did find another pic on microfilm from the tacoma paper, this is from a bad print from that microfilm, sorry about the quality.

It's hard to see but the taller Tiki on the table looks a lot like the on I have.

So the hunt is still on, next month there is a carvers event near by, with luck one of them can point me in the right direction. aloha, tikicoma

[ Edited by: tikicoma 2011-07-03 21:05 ]

Darn, close, but no cigar....thank you for investigating, Tikicoma. Man, it would be great to find a good quality version of that microfilm picture -but the library one is already a great find.

Ladies and gents... Gale Haner.

I've been loaned what seems to be Mr. Haners personal scrapbook and I'm finally able to scan at will. Many more photo's soon to be posted of his more tiki like carvings.

His business was, Gale Haner Signs and Designs. There are a lot of commercial carved signs, free standing and wall mounted carvings and carved wood with chunk-resin lamps. (chateau tiki? where was this?)

aloha for now, tikicoma

Sweet jeezass, that sign is amazing! If someone would have shown that to me without the background info, I would have pegged it as an a bit over the top Tiki Revival pop piece, something that Tipsy would make - and I would have congratulated Tim to the great concept!

I love it when the real thing supersedes the possibilities of what one could conjure up as a fantasy!

It's wonderful that material like this still turns up, thank you Tikicoma!

I might have to rip off this design for a sign in my own home tiki bar !!

I would think so! And who's gonna be the first to make a T-shirt from it !? :)

Contact Tikicoma/ Gale's son first, though. Not that something like that would make a sizable profit...but it's the right thing to do.

I'm not in the t-shirt biz... gonna have to pass on that.

Forgive me for hijacking this thread but I'm going to post many photos from Gale Haner's portfolio/scrapbook. First up the tikis.

Definitely some were Witco inspired but many seem to be originals.

aloha, tikicoma

[ Edited by: tikicoma 2012-01-21 22:33 ]

Next up masks and wall hangings,,,

The Senufo style mask in this photo reminded me the "Pikake Hut" matchbook I have,

aloha, tikicoma

[ Edited by: tikicoma 2012-01-22 00:55 ]

On 2012-01-21 22:25, tikicoma wrote:
Forgive me for hijacking this thread but I'm going to post many photos from Gale Haner's portfolio/scrapbook. First up the tikis.

Hell yeah you are forgiven, I mean this is right on the money! Spectacular for so much material to have surfaced. There is even one Witco stool in there he must have used for reference.

This again proves to me that if you really put your intention towards something, eventually it will happen! You wanted to find this.

Now Haner's carved wood, swag, resin chunk lamps. The book was loaned to me by the owner of a collectables shop in Tacoma. A bit over a year ago I asked him if these lamps were Witco...

He hadn't heard of Witco or Haner. These lamps are big, about three feet from point to point and he still has six, and had sold some to a lodge in Alaska and to someone in Portland. They came from an apartment building in Tacoma so when he came across the book he grabbed it because of this photo.

a smaller version of the same lamp, mystery solved. now more lamps.

Thats it for the lamps...

aloha for now, tikicoma

[ Edited by: tikicoma 2012-01-22 11:44 ]

[ Edited by: tikicoma 2012-01-22 18:58 ]

[ Edited by: tikicoma 2012-01-22 23:54 ]

Great! Yet another connection between chunky resin lamps and Tiki moderne! Wish there was a photo of the first lamps in situ at their apartment building. I guess he doesn't know what the name of the apartments was?

I'm loving the new life being put into this thread. Great stuff Tikicoma!! :D

Bigbro the apartments were the Ivanhoe, you were about 3 blocks from them in what '95, real close to the Tiki (originally Tangaroa) apts.

Finally a few of his commercial signs. The Jamaican, cool mid century apartments with tikis.

I know the caribbean wasn't polynesia but it was exotic in the 1950's-60's.

now a couple of mid-century signs...

about half of this book is commercial signs, though really good stuff and probably his bread and butter, not directly of interest to TC users. There are also a lot of other carvings birds, dogs, cats, other animals, asian and nudes.

nautical...

lastly another photo from the paper and a letter. The book is going back today. thanks for looking.

aloha, tikicoma

Can we some Some Asian stuff before it goes back?

Dude! (expression of enthusiasm rarely used by me :) ) LOVE that typeface on that Jamaican sign!
I lightened up the shadows a little, the sun-dappled contrast made it hard to see. Haner was a talent at signs fer sure

And who was/is Terry Anderson?

Bora Boris the only photo I kept of the asian carvings is this one...

I know there was a seated Buddha and a few other carvings but I don't recall what they were. Funny thing, when I returned the book I looked up by the entrance and saw a Senufo mask, not by Haner but what a coincidence! (By the way I love that coffee table)

aloha, tikicoma

I found these photos of the Tiki masks outside of the Jasmine Tree restaurant that were shot just before the restaurant was demolished in 2006. They look like the could be the work of Haner.

DC

Dusty I don't know but the mask on the bottom does look similar to one at the top of the page doesn't it.

Bora Boris I found another asian carving of his, and a mask, that I picked up a couple months ago.

The hair makes me think she's a geisha.

What his inspiration for the mask was I don't know but this mask is in one over the earlier photos of Haner standing in front of a business selling his carvings (also in that photo is the Caroline tiki carving Sven has and the tiki that Mimi has).

Posting Svens photo of the shrine he made after finally receiving his Haner carvings and lamp, which he staged with his Bosko and Witco's. He takes such good photos!