Joe David

Joe David (born May 30, 1946) is a Canadian-born artist, a member of the Tla-o-qui-aht Band of the Nuu-chah-nulth people, [http://lattimergallery.com/artistbio.php?a=85 Joe David] , Lattimer Gallery (Vancouver, British Columbia). Accessed 7 April 2007.] [http://www.petersongalleries.com/artists_profile/jd_prof.htm Joe David] , Peterson Gallery (between Shelton and Hoodsport, Washington). Accessed 7 April 2007.] [http://www.spiritwrestler.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=index&artists_id=15 Joe David] , Spirit Wrestler Gallery (Vancouver, British Columbia). Accessed 7 April 2007.] [http://www.stoningtongallery.com/artistselect.php?fn=Joe&ln=David&artist=4&artType=&topic=bio Joe David] , Stonington Gallery (Seattle, Washington). Accessed 7 April 2007.] also formally "adopted" into the Haida people,Edwin Smith, [http://oncampus.richmond.edu/faculty/ASAIL/SAILns/d63.html Review of Steltzer, Ulli. "A Haida Potlatch". 1986] , A Tribute to The University of Washington Press, Association for the Study of American Indian Literatures (ASAIL)] [Sheila Farr, [http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/artsentertainment/2003668860_native17.html The many faces of Northwest native art] , "Seattle Times", April 17, 2007. Accessed online 19 April 2007. This is the source for Tla-o-qui-aht Band.] whose work is identified with the modern Northwest Coast art movement; among his close associates are teacher and art historian Bill Holm, Duane Pasco and Frank Charlie (with whom he apprenticed), and his cousin Ron Hamilton. He is also a singer of traditional Nuu-chah-nulth songs, and has a strong interest in shamanic traditions, [http://web.archive.org/web/20000920042956/http://www.douglasreynoldsgallery.com/david.htm Joe David] , Douglas Reynolds Gallery, archived on the Internet Archive 20 September 2000. Accessed 7 April 2007.] both those from his own culture and from others.

David was born in the Clayoquot village of Opitsat (on Meares Island off the west coast of Vancouver Island) and grew up in Seattle, Washington. His father, Hyacinth David gave him a strong grounding in his cultural heritage. He studied art in the Job Corps,Sheila Farr, [http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/artsentertainment/2003668860_native17.html The many faces of Northwest native art] , "Seattle Times", April 17, 2007. Accessed online 19 April 2007.] attended art school in Markos, Texas and Seattle, and worked briefly as a commercial artist (among other places, for Seattle's Bon Marché department store) before, in 1969, turning more specifically to Northwest Coast Native art after he was "blitzed" by the Burke Museum collection of Northwest Native art, curated by Bill Holm. [Sheila Farr, [http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/artsentertainment/2003668860_native17.html The many faces of Northwest native art] , "Seattle Times", April 17, 2007. Accessed online 19 April 2007. The quotation using the word "blitzed" reads, in full, "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."]

He was one of the innovators of serigraphs featuring traditional Northwest Coast Native motifs, and has worked in a variety of media, including carving totem poles. 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 Southwestern U.S. Sun Dance) 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."

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