Joe Senungetuk

Watercolor and India Ink on Paper

Joe Senungetuk, Inupiaq

Born in Wales, Alaska, raised in Nome, Alaska; Resides in Anchorage, Alaska

Early motivation for Joe Senungetuk included “carving simple stuff and being able to buy candy bars.”  From a young age, he began gleaning all he could from his Uncle Andrew, an ivory carver.  His father and other uncles taught him subsistence-style hunting and fishing, bonding him to his culture and to nature.  He continues to draw inspiration from this lifestyle.  Inspiration strikes Joe without warning and might appear while he lolls in a hot bath, dreams, or considers the “inequities of racial discrimination today.”   He also gains motivation from his heritage and his proud, individualistic and courageous ancestors.

Known as “the one who could draw,” he was chosen to enhance the lessons at school with his illustrations.  As a child, he knew he had an affinity for expressing himself artistically.  His brother Ron Senungetuk tutored him in lapidary work in Nome from 1958 to 1959.  He then studied under George W. Fedoroff in Sitka, where from 1965-1967 he worked with Peter J. Seeganna at the Indian Arts and Crafts Board Demonstration Workshops.  He traveled to San Francisco where he graduated from the San Francisco Art Institute in 1970.  Working at the Visual Arts Center of Alaska from 1976-1985 complemented his talents and the informal training of his youth.

An incubation of sorts is integral to Joe’s creative process, in addition to the planning and implementation of his art.  He considers each work’s success in terms of its design elements, its stability, and its longevity.  “Will it go stale, outdated, outmoded, dusty, un-looked at during some point of its life?” Joe asks.  To him, each artistic creation serves as an extension of the artist in the same way many people think of their children.  Hopes and fears attach to the piece as the artist releases it to the world.

Joe has earned several Public Art commissions, and his work resides in local, national, and international collections of contemporary Native art.  In addition to his reputation as a visual artist, he is also a published writer.  His work reflects contemporary design and experimentation in media and form, yet remains embedded in tradition.   Joe seeks to retrieve and protect the dignity of his people and their art.

20" x 14"

$750

FOR SALE