Artist Ralph Bennett is a fifth-generation woodcarver of the Haida Tribe, whose traditional territory includes parts of southern Alaska and the archipelago of Haida Gwaii (also known as the Queen Charlotte and Prince of Wales islands in British Columbia). Bennett, whose Haida name is Goo la’Slacoon (Abalone Fingers), has been creating and teaching art for four decades, to national and international acclaim. He won a Governor’s Heritage award in 2000.
One of the students lucky enough to have worked with Bennett was Robert Moore, the uncle of Winthrop resident Liz Brackett. Twenty-five years ago, Moore carved a 6-foot-tall Raven totem pole inspired by the Haida tradition, which has been installed at the Studhorse home of Brackett and her late husband, Pete.
A 6-foot-tall Raven totem pole, carved in the Haida tradition by Winthrop resident Liz Brackett’s uncle, is looking for a home.
When Pete passed away in May 2023, Liz began considering gifting the totem pole to the Town of Winthrop, to be displayed as public art for residents and visitors to enjoy. Pete was a surveyor and helped survey the site of the new Winthrop Library, so he had a connection to the Town of Winthrop. The new library apparently isn’t a good fit for the artwork, but after a presentation by Methow Reservations co-owner Kyrie Jardin and Friends of the Winthrop Library board chair Craig Seasholes, the Winthrop town council is potentially open to the idea of installing the totem pole in a different location.
“It’s not Methow-made art,” Jardin says, “but it was made with good intention. If there’s an appropriate place in town to install it, it would be an interesting piece of public art.”
Jardin, who got acquainted with the Bracketts when Pete began cancer treatments in Seattle last winter, is now in possession of the totem pole, which he hauled to the town council presentation in a trailer.
The Methow Valley is home to a tremendous number of public art pieces relative to its population including: William Stafford’s Methow River Poems; steel spheres created by the late Bernard Hosey; glass tile mosaics; acrylic murals; cast aluminum pieces by Steve Love and the late Richard Beyer; metal panels commemorating the Twisp Creative District; Barry Stromberger’s giant Beeest wasp sculpture buzzing over the Twisp Commons and his wildland firefighter memorial sculpture in Mack Lloyd Park; Bruce Morrison’s wood carvings at the Twisp Ponds; the large collection of Smoker Marchand sculptures at Homestream Park; and others. (For a more comprehensive — but not complete — overview of public art in the Methow Valley visit www.methowarts.org/public-art-map.)
If a suitable place for Moore’s Raven can be agreed upon, the Methow Valley’s public art collection may soon be one piece richer.
