“All my life, I did the best I knew. I built these things by the side of the road to be a friend to you.”
ED GALLOWAY (1880-1962)
ED GALLOWAY The World’s Largest Totem Pole + Totem Pole Park (Main totem pole: 1937-1948) // Hand painted on 100 tons of sand and rock, 28 tons of cement, and six tons of steel; 90 feet tall x 18 feet in diameter x 54 feet base — located near Foyli, Oklahoma
The story of Ed Galloway, is quite remarkable.
Born in 1880, he was a U.S. Army veteran who taught woodworking at an orphanage in Oklahoma for over two decades. Upon his retirement, he bought a farm near Foyli, Oklahoma and proceeded to build was is now known as the world’s largest totem pole. The entire totem pole is decorated with approximately 200 bas relief images, which include brightly colored Native American portraits, symbols, and animal figures.
After the main totem pole was completed around 1948, he continued his practice of building totem poles, 11 in total, around his property almost every day until his death in 1962.
When he wasn’t building totems, he was making wooden fiddles from the wood his former students would send him from around the world. His wife quickly tired of wood shavings and dust in the house, so he built a concrete “fiddle house” which currently houses over 300 of his hand crafted fiddles, wooden chairs, and bas-relief portraits.
Ed Galloway built the totem pole … as a tribute to the American Indian. The centerpiece totem pole, rising from the back of an enormous turtle, sits in the midst of a beautiful nine acre park. The large totem features 200 carved pictures, with four nine-foot Indians near the top each representing a different tribe.
Thanks to NarrowLarry.com for the hat tip on this incredible destination. Visit Narrow Larry or the FolkArtwork Art Environments page for photos and videos of all the art environments I’ve visited over the pat few years.
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