Woodcarving: St. Francis

This undated Indian Arts and Crafts Board photograph is of a sculpture made by renowned Cherokee woodcarver Goingback Chiltoskey (1907-2000). The sculpture is a depiction of St. Francis of Assisi, patron saint of animals. Curiously, images of St. Francis were a favorite in western North Carolina during the Craft Revival period. Chiltoskey’s St. Francis is a standard form, showing the saint with a bird perched on his shoulder and holding a rabbit in his arms. This carving was made in walnut in 1972 and was pictured on the cover of a brochure that accompanied a retrospective of the artist’s work. A native of Cherokee, North Carolina and member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, Chiltoskey was trained in woodworking and art at the Haskell Institute in Lawrence, Kansas and the American Indian Art Institute in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He began teaching woodworking at the Cherokee High School in 1935. He worked as a model maker for the U.S. Army during World War II and continued his craft after retiring in 1966. He was known for his many carvings of animals and people and worked primarily in native woods like walnut, cherry, apple, buckeye, and holly