Crazy Wolf StudioKen Decker, Tsimshian Artist
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Crazy Wolf Studio
633 Mission Street Ketchikan, Alaska 99901 907-225-WOLF (9653) 888-331-WOLF (9653) Send a message to Ken using the contact form below -->
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"Teaching offers me a way to share the knowledge others have given me, and a way to spread the fulfillment that can be gained when working with Northwest Coast art forms." ~Ken Decker |
Ken Decker is an internationally known Tsimshian artist who was born and raised in Ketchikan, Alaska. As a member of the Wolf clan, Ken has been creating Northwest Coast Design art for more than 40 years.
Ken is extremely proud of his heritage and creates art to keep the culture alive. His grandfather, James Leask, traveled missionary, Father Duncan, in the first canoe from Old Metlakatla BC Canada to the present site of Metlakatla, Alaska where the Tsimshian people migrated in 1887. After apprenticing under some of the most famous Master Carvers in the world, Ken creates art in many genres including drums, prints, bentwood boxes and carvings, while also making time to teach his craft to others. To see his work and meet Ken and his wife, Monica, stop in to Crazy Wolf Studio at 633 Mission Street in Ketchikan. Crazy Wolf Studio Specializing in Authentic, Traditional Northwest Coast Native Art. Native Owned and Operated Year Round. |
In 2015, Ken was contacted by Gail Jones of the Women's Health Clinic, who was spearheading a plan to start a local Baby Box program run by the hospital. The boxes give newborn babies a safe place to sleep when they go home from the hospital. The boxes have been available to every infant born in Ketchikan. Ken donated the rights to his stork and bentwood box design to Safe and Sound Innovations so they could make the baby box design available for their growing list of clients nationwide. In honor of his generous gift, Safe and Sound Innovations commissioned him to create an authentic bentwood cedar chest with his designs, which is featured at Peacehealth Medical Center in Ketchikan. Ken saw the baby box project as a way to honor Native artisans while giving back to his local community. The cardboard baby boxes are printed with Ken's original bentwood box and stork designs. |