CHIEF ' S STAFF, STAND UP PADDLER, Carved Turtle, Chief Head Hugga Dana Penobscot
Item History & Price
This Chief's Staff by Joe Hugga Dana, Penobscot carver was displayed for several months in the Penobscot Nation Museum. It is one of his most recent works, - it's innovative and traditional as well as beautiful. A Chief's staff is an extra longsturdy stick with beautiful carving - this can be a companion on your treks and/or an artwork to be treasured and displayed. This staff has a chief's face carved on the top front and a turtle carved on the top back. (Just... below the hair on back of chief's head) - it is covered with elegant chip carving in traditional designs. And this has a unique feature on the back. There is a man standing paddling in a canoe. The man is incised in a traditional Penobscot petroglyph style. Stand-up paddling is one of Hugga's favorite things to do and one of his favorite topics. He has found a great deal of evidence that his ancestors frequently paddled their canoes standing up - This design and more are explained in more detail below. But please look carefully at all 12 photos in the slideshow above. Ebay only allows 12 photos and there are so many designs etc on this staff that I could not show them all. And keep in mind it is very difficult to appreciate a work "in the round" thru a flat photo. This chief's staff is so much more elegant and beautiful than I can show here.
Chip carving is a traditional art form that the Penobscots were using prior to European contact. The techniques and some of the designs Hugga incorporates into this work are centuries old and can be found on works that date back that far. Hugga's work is outstanding and he is considered by many to be the best Penobscot chip carver ever - . Joe "Hugga" Dana is the son of Stan Neptune and was taught by his father to chip carve. Stan is the leading authority on Maine Indian chip carving, root clubs and walking sticks. In the process of learning Penobscot myths, history, legends and stories from Senabeh, a religious elder and root club carver, Stan picked up chip carving.
This staff is 53.5" long and 1.5" in diameter. It is carved from grey birch.
FRONT design Above and below the chief's face is the bark of the sapling - traditionally bark is often left on above and below the face carving. This is a chief's face as he wears a full feathered headdress; feathers standing upright encircling his head. The headdress is on a beaded strip, as it would have been - the design is a traditional one of triangles on the band, 1/2 circles above the band - a traditional motif, the double curve on the sides of larger center design. The chief wears an arrowhead necklace with elongated chip carved feathers/claws? Below the necklace is a morning star design. The morning star rises above the double curve motif which borders a bottom "wigwam" design of chip carved triangles. At the sides, stylized double curves... outer sides are slices of the sun done in triangle chip carving and incised lines. Then - the lower bark . Below the bark is a traditional chip carved triangle with chip carved "feather dangles" at bottom. This triangle appears in the traditional place, below the bark in front. But here Hugga adds diamonds encasing chip carved flowers. This motif encircles the staff on front, sides, back just below the bark. Under this in front is a 4 directions design- chip carved tirangles defining it. Above the 4 directions from either top side is a graceful ash branch. The ash branch is found on almost all traditional chip carved pieces. Beneath the 4 directions medallion is another traditional design, a long staff with feathers/leaves "dangling" from the long sides and ash branches from the top and bottom sides. This staff is made from chip carved diamond designs alternating with the chip carved flower design seen in the top encircling border design. At bottom front is a long ash branch.
BACK design: Back of chief's head w/headdress at top... in the middle of the bark desing is a carved turtle with double curve design on either side of it's tail. Below the bark is the encircling border design mentioned above with a long ash branch hanging from the center of the back border design. The stand up paddler is under the ash branch. He is done in petroglyph style with double curves as waves and water all around him and his canoe. You can see his long paddle breaking the water. Under that is a series of 4 fish under 3 waves... with an ash branch under the fish. At back bottom is an dincised turtle ... again w/double curve design around it's tail
Leaved ash branches are prevalent this staff - the brown ash is a sacred tree to the Northeast Native Americans and figures in the Penobscot creation myth... the Penobscots were made by an arrow piercing the brown ash tree and the splinters became the people. So this is a traditional and a sacred design.
Hugga is a natural resource manager for the Penobscot tribe, he is happiest out on the river conducting salmon counts, or in the deep woods finding "deer yards" where deer overwinter. - I wanted to show you as much of this staff as possible - so did not have room for a picture of Hugga. One will be included with this staff.
02094
Chip carving is a traditional art form that the Penobscots were using prior to European contact. The techniques and some of the designs Hugga incorporates into this work are centuries old and can be found on works that date back that far. Hugga's work is outstanding and he is considered by many to be the best Penobscot chip carver ever - . Joe "Hugga" Dana is the son of Stan Neptune and was taught by his father to chip carve. Stan is the leading authority on Maine Indian chip carving, root clubs and walking sticks. In the process of learning Penobscot myths, history, legends and stories from Senabeh, a religious elder and root club carver, Stan picked up chip carving.
This staff is 53.5" long and 1.5" in diameter. It is carved from grey birch.
FRONT design Above and below the chief's face is the bark of the sapling - traditionally bark is often left on above and below the face carving. This is a chief's face as he wears a full feathered headdress; feathers standing upright encircling his head. The headdress is on a beaded strip, as it would have been - the design is a traditional one of triangles on the band, 1/2 circles above the band - a traditional motif, the double curve on the sides of larger center design. The chief wears an arrowhead necklace with elongated chip carved feathers/claws? Below the necklace is a morning star design. The morning star rises above the double curve motif which borders a bottom "wigwam" design of chip carved triangles. At the sides, stylized double curves... outer sides are slices of the sun done in triangle chip carving and incised lines. Then - the lower bark . Below the bark is a traditional chip carved triangle with chip carved "feather dangles" at bottom. This triangle appears in the traditional place, below the bark in front. But here Hugga adds diamonds encasing chip carved flowers. This motif encircles the staff on front, sides, back just below the bark. Under this in front is a 4 directions design- chip carved tirangles defining it. Above the 4 directions from either top side is a graceful ash branch. The ash branch is found on almost all traditional chip carved pieces. Beneath the 4 directions medallion is another traditional design, a long staff with feathers/leaves "dangling" from the long sides and ash branches from the top and bottom sides. This staff is made from chip carved diamond designs alternating with the chip carved flower design seen in the top encircling border design. At bottom front is a long ash branch.
BACK design: Back of chief's head w/headdress at top... in the middle of the bark desing is a carved turtle with double curve design on either side of it's tail. Below the bark is the encircling border design mentioned above with a long ash branch hanging from the center of the back border design. The stand up paddler is under the ash branch. He is done in petroglyph style with double curves as waves and water all around him and his canoe. You can see his long paddle breaking the water. Under that is a series of 4 fish under 3 waves... with an ash branch under the fish. At back bottom is an dincised turtle ... again w/double curve design around it's tail
Leaved ash branches are prevalent this staff - the brown ash is a sacred tree to the Northeast Native Americans and figures in the Penobscot creation myth... the Penobscots were made by an arrow piercing the brown ash tree and the splinters became the people. So this is a traditional and a sacred design.
Hugga is a natural resource manager for the Penobscot tribe, he is happiest out on the river conducting salmon counts, or in the deep woods finding "deer yards" where deer overwinter. - I wanted to show you as much of this staff as possible - so did not have room for a picture of Hugga. One will be included with this staff.
02094
