Seattle Parks plans to reinstall a pair of totem poles in Victor Steinbrueck Park at the north end of Pike Place Market this spring. Their return was in limbo for a few years due to questions about whether they accurately represent Coast Salish peoples of the region.
The late Quinault-Isleta Pueblo artist Marvin Oliver created the 50-foot poles. One is titled “Farmer’s Pole” and features a man and a woman at the top. The other is called “Untitled” and includes symbols of a whale, a bear and a raven holding a Salish spinning whorl used for weaving. It’s modeled after designs from the Haida Nation, whose traditional territory spans parts of southern Alaska and Haida Gwaii, an archipelago off the coast of British Columbia, Canada.
Victor Steinbrueck helped design the park in the 1980s and commissioned Marvin Oliver to create the totem poles. Since then, their wood has cracked and the paint has faded.
Seattle Parks removed the poles in 2023 to refurbish them and make improvements to the park, including to a playground and seating areas.
Marilyn Oliver-Bard, Marvin Oliver’s sister, has been advocating for parks to return the artwork to its original location. She said her brother would be very pleased that's on track.
"He would be laughing,” Oliver-Bard said. She joked that her brother would probably say, “'I can't believe you did this. Hey, they look pretty good.'"
The artwork drew headlines and stoked controversy when it was taken down for restoration.
Some city officials wanted to replace the structures, saying that totem poles do not represent Coast Salish peoples from this region. Totem poles originated from Indigenous peoples along the coast of Alaska and the coastal nations of British Columbia, Canada.
Marilyn Oliver-Bard said it feels like people have forgotten Victor Steinbrueck’s original intent when commissioning her brother to create the totem poles. According to Oliver-Bard, Steinbrueck wanted “to honor the farmers of the market: the people, the men and the women.”
The park reopened in March of last year, but restoration of the poles is ongoing.
Makah carver Greg Colfax has completely restored the “Farmer’s Pole.” The “Untitled” pole will be assessed by a structural engineer and a fabricator to ensure it is safe to reattach to cement pillars at the park.
Seattle Parks plans to reinstall the totem poles by March.
