03/14/2024
When my mother passed in 2013, divesting the estate was my responsibility. This Chief Don Lelooska totem pole was one of the items... it had been sitting alongside her house in Magnolia disintegrating.
I tried contacting the Lelooska Foundation to see if they wanted it... I contacted Daybreak Star and they didn't want it except they knew someone who would cut it up in pieces to sell it...
How did my family get it? My father promoted artists. He produced a book for the pasadena Art Museum in the 70's, (see one for sale here
https://www.ebay.com/itm/394621417666?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=qyr-acc0t1m&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=dKo0FWOYTAG&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY
And we also owned many of the masks in the book, some on loan to the Atlantic Richfield Corp in LA. We got them all back and put some to auction.
The totem pole was adopted by a well known businessman who lives on the Locks waterway. If you head into the locks, you will see this beautiful Totem Pole, all glorious 20 feet of it, restored p*e original pictures at substantial cost.
Many thanks to this person, a non-native, that contributed to the care and restoration of this beautiful piece of art!