John Boxtel
John Boxtel (June 21, 1930 – October 1, 2022) was a Dutch-Canadian sculptor and art teacher. Born in Goirle, the Netherlands, he studied architecture in Tilburg before moving to Canada in 1954. He studied at the University of Toronto, Ontario College of Art, and the Artists' Workshop in London, Ontario, and began teaching art in 1967. His work includes sculpture, woodcarving, architectural drafting, and design, with public pieces in the Netherlands, Switzerland, Canada, and the United States.
Boxtel worked with the Ukrainian Canadian community to create statues about Canada's internment of Ukrainian nationals during 1914–1920. Examples can be found in Banff National Park, Kapuskasing, Spirit Lake, and on the grounds of the Manitoba Legislature. He discussed this history in Ryan Boyko's film series The Camps. One of his works, the sculpture "To Overcome," commemorates the Royal Military College of Canada’s annual obstacle course race and was donated by the class of 1991. Boxtel also published six books, including Go Fly a Kite: The Kite-Builder's Manual, Under the Wing of an Angel, Thousand Island Pioneers, Beware of Black Widows and Spiders, For All He Gave Me: Stories of My Father, and Studio: Sculptures of John Boxtel.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 23:01 (CET).