This biography from the Archives of AskART:
| Known for his elaborately decorated, symbolic totem poles, David Boxley
has been so succesful that they are placed in a wide variety of
locations: Epcot Center in Orlando, Florida; Knott's Berry Farm in
California; the office of the Mayor and Microsoft Corporation in
Seattle, Washington; and in the collections of the Emperor of Japan;
the king and queen of Sweden; the President of West Germany, and the
Alaska Native Heritage Center in Anchorage.
He began making his totems in 1992 in his native village of Metlakatla,
Alaska, which "sealed his reputation as a culture bearer" for his
Tsimshian tribe. From his youth, he has had such
strong feelings about non-native teachers coming to the remote island
of his homeplace that he viewed them "as tantamount to an assembly of
aliens." He resented that Christian missionaries had suppressed
much of the heritage of his people.
Boxley was raised by his grandparents, and upon graduating from high
school, was the class valedictorian and gave his speech in his native
language of Sm'algyax. He attended Seattle Pacific University,
painting in his spare time and doing a series of over 50 depictions of
his native culture. He became a teacher and continued with this
art pursuit, living between Alaska and Seattle, and also did
basketball-team coaching.
In 1980, a wood-carving demonstration at a Seattle cultural center
attracted his attention, which became a turning point in his
life. He bought carving tools, and using pictures, began making
totem poles. The more research he did, the more authentic his
work became, although in retrospect, he wished he had worked with a
tribal apprentice instead of from photographs and books. He also
did his own innovations, which was to depart from the traditional red
and black exclusively and add a deep blue.
In 1986, he quit his teaching job, sold the sandwich shop he was
running in his village, and moved with his family from Alaska to
Kingston, Washington on the Olympic peninsula, where he continues to
live today (2006). From his studio there, he has reached
many collectors with his wood carving and has also organized four dance
groups of which one of them performed at the opening of the National
Museum of the American Indian in Washington DC. In
addition, he is a song writer, having writen over forty in his native
language.
Source:
Dottin Indyke, "David Boxley", Southwest Art, May 2006
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