Scott Jensen

My heritage is Danish. My great grandfather Soren Jensen and my great grandmother Karen Jensen (née Hansen) came to Canada from Copenhagen, Denmark. My grandfather Michael Jensen and his wife Grace lived in Waddena, Saskatchewan where my father Maurice was born. The family moved to Vancouver, Canada and eventually immigrated to the U.S.     I grew up in Bellingham, Washington, where my wife and I still live.

After having quit school early and working at many different jobs over a ten year period, I decided to look for something more meaningful to do. I wanted it to be something creative but I didn't know what that was. This was in the late 1960's and there were many little shops and craft fairs in the area, so I set about trying to make art I could sell. Some of the early efforts were painted posters, hanging tables (don't ask,) and a variety of other things too numerous to list here. Then one day out of the blue I thought, "I'm going to try to carve totem poles." That was 1972 and although I am not native it was the beginning of a lifelong journey that you can see the results of.   The first twenty years I worked on my own to learn about the art and culture of Northwest Native people. During that time I was asked to teach carving and tool making to the high school kids in Craig, Alaska; that was the beginning of my teaching. Since then I have given carving classes on reservations and reserves in Washington State and British Columbia, Canada, as well as the Olympic Park Institute and North Cascades Institute. Over the years I also traveled aboard the M. V. Snow Goose; we offered on-board carving projects and visited many towns and village sites all over Southeast Alaska from Ketchikan to Glacier Bay. I am now working with Bluewater Adventures out of Vancouver B. C., offering trips occasionally--and of course folks can sign up for studio classes.   In 2010 Courtney and I had a dual ceremony of our wedding and our naming and adoption by our Tlingit brother and sister, Fred Sał kaa and Ivy Gunalshowaxeex Fulmer.  Me into the Chookaneidí Eagle, Brown Bear and Porpoise Clan and Courtney into the T'akdeintaan Raven, Frog and Black Legged Kittiwake clan.

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