Artwork copyright Lawrence Ulaaq Ahvakana. Photo courtesy of Onalaska Elementary School.

Whaling Festival at Ukpiaviqmutt, 1991

Lawrence Ulaaq Ahvakana
(American | Inupiat, born 1946)

Location: Onalaska Elementary School, Onalaska

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Whaling Festival at Ukpiaviqmutt is a hand-carved sculpture created by artist Lawrence Ahvakana. He collaborated with Chippewa (Ojibwa) artist Jim Stevens, who designed the beadwork elements in this piece. The title refers to a festival held in his home village of Barrow, Alaska, located near the coast of the Arctic Ocean. The sculpture features a mask representing an "Umialiq" or whaling captain, and a mask used in the "Qasigiaq" or Spirit House. The beadwork represents the whale migration. He notes, "My people are still involved with a Subsistence life style and celebrate with ceremony for the remembrance of Traditions. My work represents the knowledge and experiences of those traditions and the environment I grew up with. The history and legends I learned through oral history from my family."

This artwork was acquired for the State Art Collection in partnership with Onalaska School District.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Native Alaskan artist Lawrence Ulaaq Ahvakana (Inupiat) creates sculptural artworks representative of his Inupiat culture and symbols. He is inspired by the oral histories and legends passed down through his family.

Ahvakana spent his childhood in Barrow, Alaska, part of the Inuit Nation that spans from Siberia in Eastern Russia, to Greenland in Northwestern Europe. He states, "My first introduction to the Arts was watching my mother, who is a very competent skin sewer... The dances and songs of the Inupiaq tradition is the oral history of my people. It is the emotional interpretation of our respect and involvement within the environment of the North Slope of Alaska." Ahvakana earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Sculpture and Glass Arts from Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) in 1972. He is a graduate of the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Cooper Union School of Art in New York City. He lived in Suquamish, Northwestern Washington, for many years, and is currently based in Alaska.