Crisp, clean, sure lines and impeccable design are hallmarks of the master carver's work. Looking at the work of David Boxley leaves no doubt that he has achieved that distinction. Working with traditional Tsimshian formline patterns and complex iconography, his work is intricately and lightly carved. Boxley rediscovered his culture and his own passion for art making when living in Seattle, working as a high school teacher. He spent many years researching historic examples of art and studying the carving methods of his people, and in 1986 made the decision to devote himself full-time to artmaking. Over the years David Boxley has been awarded numerous public and private commissions, exhibitions and has been collected by major institutions.

The Inuit Gallery of Vancouver is pleased to present a collection of three bentwood boxes by David Boxley, each expertly bent in the traditional manner, carved and painted in Boxley's low relief and beautifully painted formline. Traditionally bentwood boxes were used for storage, cooking and even serving of food. They are created in the traditional manner of back-cutting, steaming and bending until the board forms a square or rectangle. The boxes are made from straight-grained wood and the bending grooves are carefully spaced so the resulting sides of the box are even and symmetrical. The final corner and the bottom panel are fitted and fastened with pegs, while the lid is carved to match the upper edges of the box. It is a general consensus that no collection of Northwest Coast art is complete without a bentwood box.

Among the boxes currently featured at the gallery, the Four Eagles box, represents the Eagle clan Boxley belongs to. The work is painted in traditional colours of red and black, and is lightly carved in the Tsimshian style, which is amongst the most complex, with many forms and figures, sometimes one found within another. The newest chest from this artist is his stunning Bear Design Bentwood Chest, featuring that animal on all four sides of the chest. This generously-sized chest is embellished with operculum shells along the top front and the artist has left a fair amount of the cedar unpainted.

The gallery also has a mask that Boxley created in 2013. This bear mask is beautifully carved with clean lines and completed in his precise, restrained formline painting. Here you see the bear's ears on the forehead of the mask and a representation of the bear's claws on the cheeks.