Williams, Sam
Sam Williams, a Nuu-chah-nulth artisan was born 1884, besides a salmon-stuffed lake on Vancouver Island’s inhospitable west coast (Nitinat Lake). He belonged to the Ditidaht nation, one of 14 First Nations within British Columbia’s Nuu-chah-nulth tribe. Ditidaht's fished for salmon and halibut, hunted and trapped, and carved dugout canoes and sculptures from soft red cedar.
Sam Williams moved his family to Seattle around 1900, settling south of town along the Duwamish River mud flats, also known as Indian Village. The move was to avoid that his children were forced to attend the residential school system in Canada. As a traditional woodcarver, Sam’s timing was perfect. He’d arrived at the precise moment of Seattle’s new infatuation with native art, particularly totem poles. When the Ye Olde Curiosity Shop opened on the Seattle waterfront that same year, they found in Sam Williams a skilled and adaptable carver.
Sam carved in a style that was all his own. Though he was influenced by the traditional totem poles he saw around him in early life, once he landed in Seattle his carving took on a bold, personal cast that made his work like no other. His wife Nellie did most of the painting, brushing on bright-coloured enamels that complemented the strong shapes of her husband’s sculptures and helped preserve them from the elements. Though he did make miniature totem poles of the kind that is favoured by his descendants today, Sam preferred large ones. He based the size of his work on the salvage logs that washed up on the tidal flats from the many floating log booms created by the timber industry.
Sam carved in a style that was all his own. Though he was influenced by the traditional totem poles he saw around him in early life, once he landed in Seattle his carving took on a bold, personal cast that made his work like no other. His wife Nellie did most of the painting, brushing on bright-colored enamels that complemented the strong shapes of her husband’s sculptures and helped preserve them from the elements.
Sam’s four sons, Ray, Edmond, Harry and Raymond, helped him in his work, beginning what became a longstanding family tradition. In the generations to come, daughters joined sons and produced their own work. Ye Olde Curiosity Shop owner, J.E. Standley estimated that of all the totem poles sold since the shop opened in 1899, over 70% of them were carved by a Williams family member, a statistic that carries forward into the present day.