Artwork copyright Lawrence Ulaaq Ahvakana. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Young Drummer, 1995

Lawrence Ulaaq Ahvakana
American Iñupiat (born 1946)

Location: McKnight Middle School, Renton

About the Artwork

Young Drummer is a wax-cast bronze sculpture by artist Lawrence Ahvakana depicting an Inupiat (Native Alaskan) drummer. He describes this subject as "the care taker of oral dance and song traditions that pass on observations and strength to survive the Northern Alaskan environment."

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

About the Artist

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.