Welcome to my website and blog on christendokksmith.com!
As a passionate wood carver and artist I am excited to share my work and thoughts with you whether you are an art collector, looking for a wood carver, a fellow craftsperson or simply appreciate the beauty of wood carving.
It is my goal that this blog will be a way for me to talk about wood carving, current or past projects, specific styles of carving, and other ideas that occupy my mind.
First, let me start by introducing myself. My name is Christen Dokk Smith and I am a classically trained woodcarver from the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo, Norway. I currently live in Tofino, BC with my two great loves, my wife Robyn and my daughter Freyja. These two beautiful girls are the centre of my universe and the reason I wake up with a big smile on my face every day.
Being able to work in such an amazing medium as wood is simply a bonus – a great privilege. After coming to Tofino, I started taking an interest in First Nation culture and traditions. Not to make First Nation art, but to learn more about the underlying aspects of their carving and connection to nature. This kind of knowledge was not part of my training at the Viking Ship Museum, where we approached carving from a more technical point of view. Here, in British Columbia, I have been participating in sweat lodges; I have learned from First Nation artists and elders; and hiked through old-growth Cedar forest. This has given me a deeper connection to myself and the world around me, and a huge respect for the trees themselves. Now I strive to use only locally salvaged wood or sustainably logged wood in my artwork. I will write about my first meeting and tutelage with a First Nation elder in a later blog.
If you continue to come back to this blog (which I hope you will) you will find posts of my recent projects with more in-depth information about the inspiration behind each piece and techniques I used. I will write about Viking art and culture, which is near and dear to me, and my work at the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo, Norway, just to entice you with some of what is to come.
My next blog will be about my introduction to woodcarving when I was a child, and later, when Bjärte Aarseth invited me to apprentice at the Viking Ship Museum to begin my formal apprenticeship.
Thank you for taking the time to visit christendokksmith.com. I hope to see you back here in the future.