James Johnson learned to snowboard at Eaglecrest just outside Juneau, AK. Snowboarding was it for him early on. Mark Landvik was in the crew then, too. As Lando went on to pro snowboarding, traveled the world and moved to Washington state, he and James always kept in touch. At one point the two of them started trading art for snowboards and vice versa. James got one of Lando’s pro models and Mark got a piece of Tlingit art from James. To this day, James’ masks, paddles and other carvings are displayed prominently at Mark’s house. 

“Honestly, Mark was the first person that really believed in my art and what I was doing as an artist,” James says.

As an early patron Mark made lots of introductions for James. He put James’ art in front of his snowboard industry connections and shortly thereafter came collaborations with Lib Tech, Vans, Bent Metal and a slew of others. James started selling original pieces and his list of outdoor industry clients grew steadily. In time he began lecturing on Tlingit art and even spoke to employees at Google about it. He’s been teaching at the Port Townsend School of Woodworking for three years.

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