Dr. David J. Robinson is an Algonquin artist, scholar, and educator from the Timiskaming First Nation whose practice bridges sculpture, land-based knowledge, and Indigenous education. His large-scale public works—including Many Beings (2016), Thunder Child (2016), Dancing Flames (2017), Ogo Pogo (2021), Misameg (2022), River Bed (2022), and Mashkiki Ike (2025)—intertwine Indigenous philosophies with contemporary sculptural form, creating spaces for reflection, ceremony, and dialogue.
Robinson completed his PhD in Experimental Medicine at the University of British Columbia. His dissertation, KIJIKATIG: Cedar Carving Narrative Inquiry, advanced an Indigenous research methodology rooted in carving and land-based practice. Central to this work is the KIJIKATIG Education Model (KEM), which uses the growth stages of the cedar tree as a metaphor for cycles of knowledge and renewal. Through a CIHR-funded project, he engaged 20 Indigenous youth in carving alongside Elders and Knowledge Keepers, demonstrating how art can be both a site of cultural continuity and a pathway to wholistic wellness. From this work he articulated the 4C strategies—Connection, Caring, Community, and Comfort—as guiding principles for Indigenous and planetary health education.
Beyond his research, Robinson has taught across the full spectrum of education—from elementary and secondary schools to post-secondary classrooms. He has introduced thousands of students to carving, Indigenous knowledge, and wellness through interdisciplinary programs. At UBC, he has taught courses in Early Childhood Education and brought carving into interdisciplinary studies to bridge art, health, and Indigenous worldviews. His teaching practice emphasizes mentorship, relational learning, and wholistic well-being.
Robinson is also a certified teacher through UBC’s NITEP program and a Level 3 boxing official, reflecting his lifelong commitment to community wellness across artistic, academic, and athletic fields. His work embodies an Indigenous vision of learning as relational, embodied, and transformative—an approach he has carried into classrooms, carving spaces, and public art installations alike.
