Skip Ribbon Commands
Skip to main content
Seattle Art Museum (SAM)
menu

Joe David

Joe David

First Nations, Nuu-chah-nulth, Clayoquot, born 1946

Joe David is an artist and dancer. He was born in the village of Opitsaht on the
west coast of Vancouver Island in 1946. Both of his parents were artists and his
dad, Hyacinth David, was a speaker and dancer. His Westcoast Indian name was
Ka-Ka-Wha-Cheelth and his family crest is a Wolf. He was exposed to potlatches
and old artwork as a youth. At the age of 16 Joe began his art work at Tillicum
Village which had opened in 1962 at the time of the Seattle World's Fair. He was
a dancer, singer, carver and artist at Tillicam Village. He studied commercial art
before investigating Northwest Coast art. In 1981 Joe was adopted by Haida artist
Robert Davidson at a potlatch and received a new name at that time in the Eagle
lineage. Joe was one of the earliest printmakers and worked in the Westcoast
(formerly Nootka, as of 1978 referred to as Nuu-Chah-Nulth) style. A style with
rounded, often elongated U-Forms, curlicue and geometric elements, four way
splits, distinctive eye shapes and profile faces, free flowing formlines and extensive
use of blue as a primary or secondary color. Joe further developed a more flowing
version of the formline which he called the fluid or liquid line. It is his intent to
illustrate with his prints that the art of his people is growing and changing as it
always has in the past, marking in history the presence and contribution of the
artist and historian to the traditions of his people.
Terms
  • Clayoquot
  • Clayoquot
  • Clayoquot
  • Clayoquot
  • prints
  • Tofino, B.C.

Seattle Art Museum respectfully acknowledges that we are on Indigenous land, the traditional territories of the Coast Salish people. We honor our ongoing connection to these communities past, present, and future.

Learn more about Equity at SAM