Artwork copyright Lawrence Ulaaq Ahvakana. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, 2016.

Winter Moon, 1991

Lawrence Ulaaq Ahvakana
(American | Inupiat, born 1946)

Location: Hawthorne Elementary, Seattle

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Artist Lawrence Ahvakana's painted cedar carving, shaped to resemble a box drum used during Inupiat (Native Alaskan) ceremonies, represents the winter solstice. Through the use of symbols, Winter Moon depicts the land in a deep slumber, topped by triangles symbolizing the Brooks mountain range of Alaska.

This artwork was acquired for the State Art Collection in partnership with Seattle 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.