As a young boy Alvin Marshall was taken from his home on a Navajo reservation and placed in a boarding school where he was not permitted to speak the Navajo language or practice its traditions. By the age of ten he had lost both of his parents and it was his grandparents that taught him his Navajo culture.  Marshall served in the US Army and after the service he moved to the Shiprock Reservation where he began learning to sculpt with other fellow sculptor Oreland Joe.  They shared a studio and honed their craft, sculpting stone together. Alvin is very spiritual and feels the 'Great Spirit' leads him to the right stone and the right subject matter.  Since the mid-1980's, his work has been admired and collected. He is devoted to his children and grandchildren, passing on the Navajo culture through his sculpture and his life.

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