Edwin Noongwook
Edwin Noongwook was born July 29, 1975 in Savoonga, Alaska, on St. Lawrence Island in the Bering Sea. He began carving in high school under the tutelege of master carvers, including Alexander Akeya who trained him how to best use his carving tools. Edwin also cites his cousin and fellow carver Ronald Apangalook of Gamell as an important influence.
Inspired by the animals of Alaska, Edwin depicts elegant stylized cormorants, textured polar bears, spirit figures, and shamans. Edwin's treatment of his subjects are often beautifully simplified and elongated: he has a unique eye and a gift for drawing figures out of ivory or whalebone. He says his mood determines what he will make and has recently started carving entire walrus tusks.
He enjoys both whalebone and ivory carvings, but is particularly skilled in ivory. He is a versatile carver, exploring many subjects thaty capture the core activities of the Yupik culture. His dancers, hunters, and fishermen are done in his signature simple but expressive technique. The subtlety in this work is especially graceful and poignant as he takes traditional activities and materials and transforms them into pieces that are saturated with his culture, yet are distinctly true pieces of contemporary art.
Edwin is a subsistence hunter and still lives in the traditional Yupik Eskimo village of Savoonga. "The place where I grew up that shaped my artwork today was for me watching our way of life and stories passed down from our elders."
Inspired by the animals of Alaska, Edwin depicts elegant stylized cormorants, textured polar bears, spirit figures, and shamans. Edwin's treatment of his subjects are often beautifully simplified and elongated: he has a unique eye and a gift for drawing figures out of ivory or whalebone. He says his mood determines what he will make and has recently started carving entire walrus tusks.
He enjoys both whalebone and ivory carvings, but is particularly skilled in ivory. He is a versatile carver, exploring many subjects thaty capture the core activities of the Yupik culture. His dancers, hunters, and fishermen are done in his signature simple but expressive technique. The subtlety in this work is especially graceful and poignant as he takes traditional activities and materials and transforms them into pieces that are saturated with his culture, yet are distinctly true pieces of contemporary art.
Edwin is a subsistence hunter and still lives in the traditional Yupik Eskimo village of Savoonga. "The place where I grew up that shaped my artwork today was for me watching our way of life and stories passed down from our elders."