Megan Sanderson
When Mike Stone took a trip to the San Juan Island and saw the totem poles there, he was hooked.
Stone, 61, a local artist, decided to create his own original totem pole and, after three years of work, he’s got it finished.
“I was so intrigued with the totem poles,” he said.
Stone had come across a western red cedar tree that had blown down and that gave him his start. He studied the different Native American symbols for a year in order to prep himself in the culture of the Native American totem poles.
“Northwest Native American art has always intrigued me,” Stone said.
He began the carving process using some tools he’d made himself. The only power tool that was used in the carving process was a chainsaw to help take the excess wood off at the beginning.
From the top down Stone chose to carve a thunderbird, a bear holding a human, a beaver, a raven, and lastly a wolf, all of them based upon Native American culture and him.
“I picked the symbols based off my character,” he said.
Stone is a Vietnam War veteran. He and his brother joined the army together and were able to go through training together, but were stationed at different locations. Stone served two tours in Vietnam. In his first tour he had been given a military clearance in which he saw some combat, but not a whole lot. He decided to do another tour, even though it was not mandatory.
“The married guys were going and that was horrible,” he said. “So I signed up for another tour.”
In his second tour, Stone saw jungle action and was caught in an ambush. Stone’s and his brother’s unit is talked about in the book “Into Laos: The Story of Dewey Canyon Ii/Lam Son 719, Vietnam 1971,” by Keith Nolan.
After returning home, Stone’s experience was reflected in his art. He began drawing soldier protest art that reflected the culture of rock ’n’ roll and the military.
Stone has been painting since he was 5 years old, he said. His body of work has included a wide variety of different art mediums, including stained-glass windows, hope chests, sculptures, furniture, soldier protest drawings, paintings, tattoos and much more.
“You name it,” Stone said.
He has specialized in tattoos for the past 20 years and currently he works at Body Mine Tattoo shop in Sweet Home.
He studied at Lane Community College, University of Oregon, and a Eugene art school, he said. He had been going to school to become an elementary art teacher, but because he worked full-time for Weyerhaeuser to support his family, he never graduated.
“One hundred twenty-six credits and no degree,” Stone said.
Many of Stone’s ideas come from his art studio/man cave above a shop and from random wood stacked inside another shop.
“This has to be something,” Stone said. “Then I’m doing it.”
That’s where he worked on his totem pole.
When he finished carving his totem pole, the painting began. Following tradition and keeping the totem pole consistent, the thunderbird and bear were painted in color and the rest done in blacks and whites.
“I wanted to stay consistent with what the (Native Americans) had, but with minor differences,” Stone said.
If traditional people came to look at Stone’s totem pole, they would tell him “you did it wrong.” Instead of tapering the totem pole from small to large, Stone did the opposite.
“I wanted my thunderbird big and impressive,” he said.
Stone’s totem pole will be on display and sale at an art gallery in Tumalo between Sisters and Bend.
“My biggest fear is that they’ll get a lot of business from it, but they won’t sell it,” Stone said.
Although the finished project is outstanding, Stone is “done with it” – he won’t be harboring a lot of sentimentality.
“As an artist, I’m more interested in the process of creating it,” he said.