Xwesultan (Raven Borsey) poses next to his carving of a thunderbird clutching a serpent on Nov. 9 2023 in Bellingham, Wash. Borsey never understood why he carved it until his mentor, Daryll Hillaire, shared an old Lummi story about a notorious battle between a thunderbird and serpents.

Felix Solomon sits next to a fold-out table covered with an array of tools, mostly carving knives, in his studio within the Lummi reservation on July. 25, 2023. Solomon has carved and restored dozens of story poles.

A vibrant carving of a Dog (Chum) Salmon in its hatching period in master carver Felix Solomon’s studio on Oct. 20, 2023. Solomon created the piece after salmon didn’t make it back up Western Washington rivers in 2017.

Ralph Bennett rests his hand on a mask he is currently working on in Felix Solomon’s studio on Oct. 20, 2023. Though Bennett is not Coast Salish, he has learned about their carving forms in the course of making and restoring over 50 poles with Solomon.

Wood shavings settle on a variety of handheld tools used for carving on Oct. 20, 2023. A new introduction to the world of carving has been power tools.

Jason LaClair, whose Lummi name is Sienum, prays with Samuel Cagey’s pole in the Hotel Leo. Carvers treat story poles as sacred, spiritual beings, showing the utmost respect toward them.

A vibrant story pole, started by Samuel Cagey Jr. and taken over by Jason LaClair, rests under bright lights in the Hotel Leo in Bellingham, Wash on. Dec 5, 2023. LaClair expects to finish the pole, whose figures and natural beings are carved 3-dimensionally, by the end of the month.