Exhibition Didactic on the "Eagle and Wolf" by David Tsimshian

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Art Analysis
David Robert Boxley Tsimshian is a Native American artist from the Alaskan Tsimshian community specializing in graphic design and totem-pole carving. He comes from a line of Tsimshian artists, and the graphic artwork below, Eagle & Wolf, embodies his present clan (the Wolf Clan) while also paying homage to his former clan (Eagle Clan).


Fig. 2. Eagle & Wolf, by David Robert Boxley Tsimshian, Silk Screen on Paper, 1986 (MutualArt).
Boxley employs the characteristic elements of Northwest Coast graphic art, including oval shapes, curved T and Y shapes, crescents, circles, and U-shapes to represent his subjects. The various forms fit together to form the images of an eagle and wolf. The oval shapes are the building block of the graphic image since they generate the primary features of a form line image. They are thin on the sides but thicken at the top: the artist used them to create the fins, eyes, shoulders, and wings of the eagle and link with other forms. Some oval shapes are solid, while others contain smaller ovoids within them.
Moreover, Tsimshian merges these ovoids with form line elements and negative space to form the eagle's head, below which, is the wolf's head. He used the U-forms to direct movement and generate form parts for the design. They are thickest at the top and then grow thin to a fine point before linking with other graphic image elements. The curved T and Y shapes are employed in addition to the U-forms to improve detail. These generally tie to other sections of the design where they form the details of the eagle, such as the feathers and fins.
For instance, the split U-form in red is stacked together with negative space (the unpainted sections) to create an image of the eagle's wings. On the other hand, deeply curved T and Y shapes, along with the crescents and circles (which are lacking in color), form the negative white spaces...