Artwork copyright Duane Pasco. Photo courtesy of the artist, 1976.

Artwork copyright Duane Pasco. Photo courtesy of the artist, 1976 (detail).

Artwork copyright Duane Pasco. Original 1977 installation. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, by Jim Ball (black and white photo).

Artwork copyright Duane Pasco. Original 1977 installation. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, by Jim Ball (black and white photo).

Artwork copyright Duane Pasco. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, by Marie Hassett, 2001.

Thunderbird, 1976

Duane Pasco
(American, born 1932)

Location: Tumwater High School, Tumwater

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Thunderbird is a small, carved and painted, cedar totem pole by non-Native artist Duane Pasco. The thunderbird is a legendary creature in Native American Northwest Coast cultures and stories. It has supernatural powers. It is carved in the style of traditional Northwest Coast designs.

This artwork was acquired for the State Art Collection in partnership with Tumwater School District.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Artist Duane Pasco is a non-Native wood carver and sculptor. His artworks are very strongly influenced by the Indigenous artistic traditions of the Northwest Coast. He has made the study of these Northwest Coast Indigenous artistic traditions his life’s work. Many credit him as an outstanding craftsperson and a generous teacher, who nurtured emerging Native carvers. Others are critical that he benefitted financially from opportunities that could have gone to Native artists, using traditions that are not his own.

Born in Seattle, Pasco's family moved to Alaska early in his childhood. In the early 1970s, he served as an art instructor in Northern British Columbia, Canada, before returning to the Seattle area. Pasco is based in Poulsbo, on the Kitsap Peninsula, southern Puget Sound, Western Washington.