David Neel: Symbols Speak

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David Neel, "My Final Exam Raven Box," 2019

sterling silver, 18K yellow gold, engraved, oxidized, 4" x 3" x 3”

With the release of David Neel’s new memoir, The Way Home, Coastal Peoples Gallery is pleased to exhibit the artist’s current multimedia works in conjunction with his book launch on Saturday, November 16th.

As a 7th generation artist, whether inspired from ancient or modern cultures, David Neel understands that artistic expression through symbols communicates what words cannot regardless of verbal or written form. Symbols Speak represents an impressive collection of fine jewellery, carvings and graphics illustrating the artist’s exploration, cultivation, and return to his Indigenous roots.

“Art communicates at an intuitive level through symbols, which can express gigabytes of information. Symbols speak to the soul, to the primitive psyche, communicating coded messages that bypass the conscious mind tocommunicate to a deeper part of the brain.”

Through the creation of his art and life, David connects to a deeper, less visible world that incorporates the distinctive symbols of his own cultural heritage - the Kwakwakwa’wakw.

“Northwest Coast art is rich in symbols, and those symbols played an essential role in my early life, helping to form my emotional and psychological foundation.”

David’s intimate encounters and teachings from renowned-artists, such as Beau Dick, Wayne Alfred, Lyle Wilson and Bill Reid, amongst others, as well as his hands-on workings with international museum collections, has given David an experiential model in which to form his own sensibilities and perceptions of what constitutes Northwest Coast art.

“I had the rare privilege of holding in my hands some of the finest of the ancient masterpieces, and they helped form my philosophy, interpretation, and approach toIndigenous art.”

David Neel’s My Final Exam Raven Box is a sterling silver and gold miniature replication of a traditional bentwood box. The original box, carved by an enigmatic and mysterious artist known only as the “Master of the Black Field”, can be found in the collection of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. The“Master of the Black Field” was of probable Tlingit descent and lived and worked during the1800’s. The original box, which depicts a Seal, was collected by US Naval Lieutenant George Thornton Emmons, an ethnographic photographer who recorded information and artifacts from the Tlingit and Tahltan Nations in the 1880s. View the AMNH catalogue file here as well as on the following page.

All of the greats in Northwest Coast art, including the likes of Bill Reid and Robert Davidson, have studied the Master’swork. Bill Holm, the infamous Northwest Coast art historian and author of Northwest Coast Indian Art: An Analysis of Form has called the nineteenth-century original a“masterpiece”. Acclaimed Haida artist Bill Reid referred to his effort to learn from the box as "the final exam" in understanding the visual language of Northwest Coast northern design; thus informing Neel’s title of his own piece.

My Final Exam Raven Box is a highly detailed exploration of the finer uses of form line design. Neel’s study of the revereddesign by the Master can be seen when comparing the two pieces. Each panel of the original box is replicated in Neel’sown style. David has also inlaid the box with gold accents and oxidized the silver, adding further emphasis to its finite and intricate detailing. The lid is removable and seals perfectly on all four sides of the box.