Trash totems

Lower secondary visual arts

With Kate Stehr

Art Bites Visual arts

A step-by-step guide to making your own totem pole from found objects.

Art Bites – videos

Let's go collecting

Want to build your own towering totem pole? Wondering where to start when you are making art at home? Check out this first video, in the series of five that will teach you how to make you very own Totem pole from items that you might have seen as trash!

Build it!

You’ve fossicked through your house, found a bunch of great stuff to start making…so how do you begin? In this, the second lesson of five, on building a Totem Pole from trash, you’ll see how you go about building your structure.

Ditch 2D and push for 3D

This lesson looks at tips and tricks on the best way to create features. Nobody wants 2D when they can have 3D, right?!

The details

In lesson four of this five part series, we look at the details. How to build wings, horns, and all the fun bits and pieces. We also look at ways you can cover over your surface if you want a clean start for adding some polish in lesson five!

Adding some polish

There are a bunch of ways you can finish of your Trash Totem! Paint it or layer it, we’ll look at a few of these ideas in this final lesson.