Joe David (born June 30, 1946) is a

Nuu-chah-nulth The Nuu-chah-nulth ( ; ), also formerly referred to as the Nootka, Nutka, Aht, Nuuchahnulth or Tahkaht, are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast in Canada. The term Nuu-chah-nulth is used to describe fifteen related tri ...

artist, a member of the Tla-o-qui-aht Band of the Nuu-chah-nulth people,Joe David
Lattimer Gallery (

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

). Accessed 7 April 2007.Joe David
, Peterson Gallery (between

Shelton Shelton may refer to: Places United Kingdom *Shelton, North Bedfordshire, in the parish of Dean and Shelton, Bedfordshire * Lower Shelton, in the parish of Marston Moretaine, Bedfordshire * Upper Shelton, in the parish of Marston Moretaine, Bedf ...

and

Hoodsport, Washington Hoodsport is a census-designated place (CDP) in Mason County, Washington, United States. The population was 419 at the 2020 census. Hoodsport is located along the Hood Canal, at the intersection of U.S. Route 101 and State Route 119. Lake Cus ...

). Accessed 7 April 2007.Joe David
Spirit Wrestler Gallery (Vancouver, British Columbia). Accessed 7 April 2007.Joe David
, Stonington Gallery (

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is the List of municipalities in Washington, most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the List of Unit ...

). Accessed 7 April 2007. also formally "adopted" into the

Haida people The Haida (, , , , ) are an Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. They constitute one of 203 First Nations in British Columbia and 231 federally recognized List of Alaska Native tribal entities, tribes in Alaska. T ...

,Edwin Smith
Review of Steltzer, Ulli. ''A Haida Potlatch''. 1986
A Tribute to The University of Washington Press,

Association for the Study of American Indian Literatures The Association for the Study of American Indian Literatures (ASAIL) is a professional academic organization. It was founded in 1971 to promote the study, criticism, and research of American Indian literary traditions, both written and oral. Its ...

(ASAIL)Sheila Farr
The many faces of Northwest native art
''Seattle Times'', April 17, 2007. Accessed online 13 November 2016. whose work is identified with the

contemporary Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from about 1945 to the present. In the social sciences, contemporary history is also continuous with, and related t ...

Northwest Coast art Northwest Coast art is the term commonly applied to a style of art created primarily by artists from Tlingit, Haida, Heiltsuk, Nuxalk, Tsimshian, Kwakwaka'wakw, Nuu-chah-nulth and other First Nations and Native American tribes of the Northwes ...

movement; among his close associates are teacher and art historian Bill Holm, Duane Pasco, and his cousin Ron Hamilton. He is also a singer of traditional Nuu-chah-nulth songs, and has a strong interest in

shaman Shamanism is a spiritual practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with the spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiritual energies into ...

ic traditions,. Accessed 7 April 2007. both those from his own culture and from others.

Early life and education

David was born in the Clayoquot village of

Opitsaht Opitsaht, spelled also as Opitsat and Opitsitah, is a First Nations settlement/community in the Southwest area of Meares Island, Clayoquot South, British Columbia. This peninsula-like region is the home to Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations of the Nuu-c ...

(on

Meares Island Meares Island is one of the many islands surrounding the Village of Tofino, British Columbia, Canada. Its name was given in 1862 by George Henry Richards, captain of , in honor of John Meares. The island is located in the Clayoquot Sound region a ...

off the west coast of

Vancouver Island Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The island is in length, in width at its widest point, and in total area, while are of land. The island is the largest ...

). His father Hyacinth David, an elder of the Clayoquot Nation, gave him a strong grounding in his cultural heritage. As a child, he attended a mission boarding school. While there, David visited the school's chapel for quiet and solitude. He saw that the carved altar in the chapel was similar to the artwork of his people in the awe and respect that it inspired. He studied art in the

Job Corps Job Corps is a program administered by the United States Department of Labor that offers free education and vocational training to young people ages 16 to 24.

, attended art school in

San Marcos, Texas San Marcos () is a city and the county seat of Hays County, Texas, United States. The city is a part of the Greater Austin, Greater Austin Metropolitan Area. San Marcos's limits extend into Caldwell County, Texas, Caldwell and Guadalupe County, T ...

and Seattle, and worked briefly as a commercial artist (among other places, for Seattle's

Bon Marché Bon or Bön (), also known as Yungdrung Bon (, ), is the indigenous Tibetan religion which shares many similarities and influences with Tibetan Buddhism.Samuel 2012, pp. 220–221. It initially developed in the tenth and eleventh centuries but ...

department store) before, in 1969, turning more specifically to Northwest Coast Native art after he was visiting the

Burke Museum The Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture (commonly as Burke Museum) is a natural history museum on the campus of the University of Washington, in Seattle, Washington (state), Washington, United States. It is administered by the University ...

collection of Northwest Native art, curated by Bill Holm. Of this collection, David said "Here was this collection that Bill Holm had curated and understood and treated properly -- it was like, wow! This was not the academic, Mickey Mouse stuff. I was just blitzed. It was just between the eyes, like man, I've got to not only study and learn this, but I've got to master it." In 1971, he met Duane Pasco, who encouraged his interest in two-dimensional representation and experimentation with Northwest Coast styles."

Artwork

He was one of the innovators of

serigraphy Screen printing is a printing technique where a mesh is used to transfer ink (or dye) onto a Substrate (printing), substrate, except in areas made impermeable to the ink by a blocking stencil. A blade or squeegee is moved across the screen i ...

featuring traditional Northwest Coast Native motifs, and has worked in a variety of media, including carving

totem pole Totem poles () are monumental carvings found in western Canada and the northwestern United States. They are a type of Northwest Coast art, consisting of poles, posts or pillars, carved with symbols or figures. They are usually made from large t ...

s. In the 1981 documentary "Spirit of the Mask," David expresses his love of the wood and the tools with which he works. His eclecticism has involved an interest not only in his native traditions and the broad mainstream of contemporary North American culture, but also in other Native American traditions (he participates annually in a

Sun Dance The Sun Dance is a ceremony practiced by some Native Americans in the United States and Indigenous peoples in Canada, primarily those of the Plains Indians, Plains cultures, as well as a new movement within Native American religions. Members of ...

in the southwestern United States) and, for example, by Maori art. Rejecting the view that traditional Northwest Native cultures should somehow remain frozen in time, he has remarked "The fact is, there is always change and our people have always been comfortable with it." He emphasizes that his work is not a tribute to the past, but to a living culture.

Collections

David has pieces in the permanent collections of the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

and in the

Museum of Anthropology at UBC The Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia (UBC) campus in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada displays world arts and cultures, in particular works by First Nations in Canada, First Nations of the Pacific Northwest. As well ...

.Museum of Anthropology online catalog
accessed 2014-08-13.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:David, Joe 1946 births Living people 20th-century First Nations sculptors 20th-century Canadian sculptors Canadian male sculptors 20th-century Canadian male artists 21st-century First Nations artists Artists from British Columbia First Nations printmakers Haida woodcarvers Haida male artists Haida artists Northwest Coast art Nuu-chah-nulth people Totem pole carvers