Frederick Alexcee (1853-1940s )was a Tsimshian carver and painter from the community of Lax Kw'alaams (Port Simpson), British Columbia, Canada. Members of the Tsimshian tribe enjoying a tea party near Fort Simpson, British Columbia, c. ... Lax Kwalaams, usually called Port Simpson, is a First Nations village community in British Columbia, Canada, not far from the city of Prince Rupert. ... Motto: Splendor Sine Occasu (Latin: Splendour without diminishment) Official languages none stated in law; English is de facto Flower Pacific dogwood Tree Western Redcedar Bird Stellers Jay Capital Victoria Largest city Vancouver Lieutenant-Governor Iona Campagnolo Premier Gordon Campbell (BC Liberal) Parliamentary representation  - House seat  - Senate seats 36 6...

Alexcee (his last name has also been spelled Alexie, Alexee, etc.) was born in Lax Kw'alaams, then known as Fort Simpson, in 1853. His father was an Iroquois laborer from eastern Canada who was in the employee of the Hudson's Bay Company at Fort Simpson. His mother was Tsimshian from the Giluts'aaw tribe, one of the "Nine Tribes" from the lower Skeena River area based at Lax Kw'alaams. In the matrilineal system of the Tsimshian, Alexcee followed his mother as a Giluts'aaw and as a member of the Gispwudwada (Killerwhale clan or phratry). His Tsimshian name was 'Wiiksmwan, meaning Great Deer Woman. The Hudsons Bay Company (HBC. TSX: HBC) is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and is one of the oldest in the world. ... The Gilutsaaẅ (properly spelled with an umlaut over the w) are one of the 14 tribes of the Tsimshian nation in British Columbia, Canada, and one of the nine of those tribes making up the Nine Tribes of the lower Skeena River resident at Lax Kwalaams (a. ... The Skeena River is on the north coast of British Columbia, passing through Terrace. ...

Alexcee was trained as a halaayt carver, the term halaayt referring to shamanic practices which were the prerogative of chiefs. He produced naxnox (spirit) paraphernalia and items for use in "secret society" ceremonies. All of these were practices which late-19th-century missionaries in Lax Kw'alaams were endeavoring to eradicate. Alexcee also carved for the Indian curio trade and produced paintings and drawings depicting traditional life in Port Simpson.

He carved human figures to adorn a baptismal font in Port Simpson's Methodist church.

He died some time in the 1940s.

Works of his can be found at the University of British Columbia's Museum of Anthropology, the Museum of Northern British Columbia in Prince Rupert, and the Royal British Columbia Museum in Victoria. The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university with its main campus located at Point Grey, in the University Endowment Lands adjacent to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and another smaller campus known as UBC Okanagan located in Kelowna, British Columbia. ... for the city in British Columbia, see Prince Rupert, British Columbia Prince Rupert of the Rhine (1619-1682), soldier and inventor, was a younger son of Frederick V, Elector Palatine and Elizabeth Stuart, and the nephew of King Charles I of England. ... Historical museum located in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. ... Victoria is a Canadian city, and the provincial capital of British Columbia. ...

Bibliography

• Barbeau, Marius (1945) "Frederick Alexie: A Primitive." Canadian Review of Music and Art, vol. 3, no. 11/12.

• Hawker, Ronald William (1991) "Frederick Alexie: Euro-Canadian Discussions of a First Nations Artist." Canadian Journal of Native Studies, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 229-252.

Charles Marius Barbeau (March 5, 1883 – February 27, 1969) was a Canadian ethnographer and folklorist. ...

Other publications featuring work by Alexcee

• MacDonald, George F., and John J. Cove (eds.) (1987) Tsimshian Narratives. Collected by Marius Barbeau and William Beynon. (Canadian Museum of Civilization Mercury Series, Directorate Paper 3.) 2 vols. Ottawa: Directorate, Canadian Museum of Civilization.

• MacDonald, George F. (1984) "Painted Houses and Woven Blankets: Symbols of Wealth in Tsimshian Art and Myth." In The Tsimshian and Their Neighbors of the North Pacific Coast, ed. by Jay Miller and Carol M. Eastman, pp. 109-136. Seattle: University of Washington Press.

• Marsden, Susan (ed.) (1992) Suwilaay'msga Na Ga'niiyatgm, Teachings of Our Grandfathers. 7 vols. Prince Rupert, B.C.: First Nations Advisory Council of School District #52.

• Neylan, Susan (2003) The Heavens Are Changing: Nineteenth-Century Protestant Missions and Tsimshian Christianity. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press.