Craft Around the Country

For Tlingit Carver James Johnson, Formline is the Throughline

The Juneau, Alaska–based carver’s practice, including high-profile collaborations with snowboarding and apparel brands, is a link between Tlingit pasts and futures.

By Amy Erickson
June 17, 2026

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Photo by Ian Tetzner

James Johnson, Raven Clan Hat, 2023, red cedar, ermine, deer hide.

Tlingit artist and wood carver James Johnson grew up in Juneau, Alaska, surrounded by the culture, stories, and landscapes that shape his art. In Tlingit culture, he explains, there is no separate word for “art.” The carvings, bentwood boxes, and ceremonial objects associated with Pacific Northwest Coast design are inseparable from identity, history, and daily life. “I’m connected to my ancestors when I carve,” Johnson says. “The spiritual aspect of it, I feel that connection.”

A member of the Tlingit Ch’áak’ Dakl’aweidi (killer whale) Clan, Johnson’s Tlingit name, Onn-Iss-kwah, means “man who stands alone strong.” He was working unloading crab boats for a seafood company when he decided he wanted to pursue meaningful work; he turned to wood carving full-time in 2008. Largely self-taught, he spent years studying Tlingit art in museums across the country, studying his ancestors’ work and examining the precision of each cut, the balance of positive and negative space, and the technical mastery embedded in centuries-old pieces. Those works became his teachers.

The foundation of Johnson’s practice is formline, the flowing two-dimensional imagery that defines Northwest Coast art. Each tribe has their own style of formline, with its own history, language, style of carving, and use of color. “In order to be a carver, understanding the rules and guidelines of proper formline is essential,” Johnson says. “It teaches you to see the balance.”

Photo by Ian Tetzner

Johnson collaborated on this blanket design with home goods company Slowtide.

Carving primarily with traditional Tlingit tools such as adzes and crooked knives, Johnson shapes red and yellow cedar sourced from Alaska and the Pacific Northwest. He paints relief carvings before carving them, a technique unfamiliar to many outside the tradition. The painted design becomes a roadmap, guiding every cut. “Every cut has to be perfect,” he says. “You learn to trust your ability and have confidence.”

Johnson speaks about carving with the focus of someone who has spent thousands of hours refining muscle memory. Grain direction dictates movement. Precision matters. Finish work transforms a piece from good to extraordinary. Some days, he looks up from the carving bench and realizes hours have passed unnoticed. “I love how mindless it is,” he says. “It puts you directly in the present moment.”

Johnson’s devotion to his craft carries a deeper responsibility: he sees carving not simply as artistic expression, but as cultural preservation. Tlingit stories go back 10,000 years; visual language once carried stories, clan histories, and ceremonial meaning across generations. Colonization, abuse and forced assimilation at boarding schools, and cultural suppression nearly erased many of those traditions. “Basically everything that could have been done was done to destroy our way of life, our culture, our history,” Johnson says.

Photo by Elias Johnson

Johnson carving.

Photo by Liam Gallagher

Johnson's carving tools include adzes and crooked knives.

Today, Johnson views his work as part of an ongoing cultural resurgence. He points to museums such as the Sheldon Jackson Museum in Sitka, Alaska, named after a 19th-century Presbyterian missionary who collected nearly 3,000 items on his travels through rural Alaska, including Tlingit artwork and cultural artifacts. These ancestral works survived because they were preserved during a time when Tlingit culture was under attack. The rebuilding process, Johnson says, will take generations. “I’m just doing my part through my life and then passing it on to the next generation.”

That same philosophy extends into Johnson’s collaborations with global outdoor brands, including snowboard manufacturer Lib Tech and apparel company Smartwool. A lifelong snowboarder and outdoorsman, Johnson partners with companies that align with his lifestyle and demonstrate respect for Tlingit culture. Working with Lib Tech, he has designed seven snowboard graphics and is currently collaborating with professional snowboarder Travis Rice on a future collection (Rice also gave Johnson his first solo show at his now-shuttered Asymbol Gallery in Jackson, Wyoming, in 2017). His work with Smartwool has expanded into a full design collaboration, set for release in 2027.

Photo by Liam Gallagher

An avid snowboarding, Johnson rides a board featuring one of his designs.

“In order to be a carver, understanding the rules and guidelines of proper formline is essential. It teaches you to see the balance.”

— James Johnson

Rather than adapting his art digitally, Johnson bases each collaboration on carvings or paintings created by hand. Maintaining cultural integrity remains non-negotiable. “The integrity of the culture and art form never changes,” he says.

These brand partnerships also allow Johnson to bring Tlingit culture to audiences far beyond Alaska. His Lib Tech boards, complete with written explanations of the imagery and meaning behind the designs, appear in snowboard shops around the world. Institutions including the Art Institute of Chicago and the Rhode Island School of Design have added his collaborative works to their collections, placing contemporary Tlingit design into spaces traditionally reserved for fine art.

Photo by Liam Gallagher

Johnson works on a piece using traditional carving tools.

For Johnson, visibility alone is not enough—the collaborations must also create tangible benefits for Native communities. Many of the brands he works with donate directly to Native youth programs in Alaska, including arts programs and ski and snowboard initiatives organized through the Sealaska Heritage Institute and Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska. The programs provide Native youth with equipment, lift tickets, and opportunities to experience the mountains, often for the first time. “Native youth need the encouragement. They need the support,” Johnson says. ”It’s positive and can change the direction of their life.”

Johnson also teaches carving courses at the Port Townsend School of Woodworking in Washington, where he has spent the last six years mentoring students and helping Native artists access scholarships. Watching students develop confidence and skill has become one of the most rewarding parts of his career.

And in early June, at the Sealaska Heritage Institute’s Celebration, an annual gathering of Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian people in Juneau, Johnson’s work was emphatically embraced by his community. His Bear Tunic won four awards in SHI’s 13th biennial Juried Art Show and Competition, including Best of Show and Best of Formline. In the wood category, his Sea Otter Bowl captured the top prize. “That’s probably the highest award I’ll ever receive in my career as an artist,” he says.

“If someone owns a piece of my work, they are holding a living piece of our history, a connection from the past leading into the future,” Johnson says.

Photo by Liam Gallagher

Johnson teaches at Port Townsend School of Woodworking in Washington. He's pictured here with a student.

Photo courtesy of Washington State History Museum

Johnson's 2021 red cedar Seal Bowl is used during the Tlingit potlatch.

Amy Erickson is a Wyoming-based western silversmith, engraver, and bit-and-spur maker specializing in hand-engraved jewelry and gear.

Check out James Johnson's work online.

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This article was made possible with support from the Windgate Foundation.

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