New Work

Caribou Skin Mask

Half Me
beluga ingalauks, handmade paper

Walrus Stomach Me
walrus stomach, handmade paper
$500
Available

Blue Vein I
caribou skin w/ horse, goat hair, trade beads, ivory & fossilized ivory artifact
$400
Available
Blue Vein II
caribou skin w/ goat hair, ivory beads & wolf tooth

Caribou w/ red fox
$400
Available

Caribou w/ silver fox
$400
available



Caribou I
$400
Available



Thin One
caribou skin w/ horse hair, coyote w/ acrylic paint
$400
Available
Goat skin Mask
goat skin w/ stone tiger eye & trade beads w/ acrylic paint
$250
Available

White One
caribou skin w/ horse hair, coyote, acrylic paint, stone & blue trade beads
$400
Available
Red II
caribou skin w/ horse hair, coyote, acrylic paint, tiger eye stone, trade beads & snake vertibrae
$400
Available
Light One
caribou skin w/ horse hair, coyote, caribou antler, beads & wolf tooth






Red

Goat skin mask w/ horse hair, coyote & trade bead w/ halibut bone.












Herself
Caribou skin mask w/ horse & musk ox hair, coyote, acrylic paint & trade beads.

Mane
Caribou skin mask w/ horse hair, coyote, acrylic paint and wolf tooth.


Second Skin

Caribou skin w/ horse & musk ox hair, coyote, white trade beads & wolf tooth necklace. Approx. 13" across x 41" in length.

Skin

Caribou skin w/ horse & musk ox hair, other animal skin, ivory & white trade beads w/ acrylic paint. Approx. 16" across x 40" in length



My First Real Mask
Caribou skin w/ horse hair, coyote & other animal hair. Stone beads w/ ancestral ivory piece. Acrylic paint. Approx. 7" across & 3' at full length


Wood Tutu

plywood w/ waterbased stain & acrylic paint. Approx. 13" across & 5' in length
Available

Caribou Skin Masks ~

Tutu Resurrected I

This caribou skin mask was created from a found skin off the coast along the beach beyond Cape Blossom near Kotzebue. This skin was imbedded in color by the mud it had been living in. Beautiful enriching color of earth. Made w/ musk ox hair and various other animal hair w/ trade beads. This is an oversized mask w/ custom framing.

Available

Caribou I

caribou skin mask w/ musk ox hair & coyote ruff w/ trade beads & tufts of caribou hair











Tutu One


Caribou skin mask w/ musk ox hair, coyote ruff & trade beads. Color achieved by soaking in tea.




Goat Skin Mask

Goat skin w/ wolverine, tufts of caribou hair & trade beads. An image of the artist hand is visible through the mask.




Tutu Mask

Caribou skin w/ musk ox & coyote hair w/ trade beads. Background is painted canvas.

Behind the mask is an image of the artist's hand.

Tutu Resurrected

This caribou skin mask was created from a found skin off the coast along the beach beyond Cape Blossom near Kotzebue. This skin was imbedded in color by the mud it had been living in. Beautiful enriching color of earth. Made with dyed animal hair and trade beads. The background is painted canvas.

Tutu Woman III

Caribou skin mask w/ brass tacks, color achieved by soaking in tea






Tutu Woman II

Caribou skin mask w/ musk ox, coyote & tuft of caribou hair

Wall Sculpture & Wood Carving

Abstract Wood Wall Piece

Waterbased stain, acrylic paint, clear protective coat. This piece has 1 1/4" mounts on back to create distance from the art and the wall.
29" x 47"


Laminated Red Cedar

The fluidity of seals in motion express the symmetry and beauty of this piece.

36 x 40" This slightly curved red cedar relief carving is the first large scale wood piece for Aakatchaq, and is still a work in progress.

Linoleum Block Prints

Hand carved Linoleum block print, ink printed on handmade Thailand paper. 17.5" x 23.75"

Each print has its own individual fiber characteristics as well as ink pattern, where no two are printed identically. $50/each

Sienna Thai paper w/ turquoise
All block prints:
Available



The image prepresents two sides of the same being, the human with the animal spirit.

Sienna Thai paper w/ turquoise
Available

Acrylic & Pastel Paintings/Caribou Hair & Skin

Caribou Hair Baby
acrylic pastel on paper w/ caribou hair
$200.00
Available

Woman, pen & acryic paint on canvas


This Woman, acrylic on paper board w/ handmade paper. Within the image describes the hardship of this eskimo: this woman.





Untitled Woman, acrylic on canvas 5' x 15"




Untitled Man, acrylic pastel, coffee on paper


Young Woman, watercolor pastel on handmade paper













Caribou Hair Woman, acrylic pastel/paint, caribou hair on canvas



Beautiful Child, large acrylic paint, plexi glass transparent


Caribou Skin Woman, acrylic on canvas, caribou skin



Ahna & Child, acrylic pastel on paper





Young Hunter, acrylic watercolor on paper



Seal Skin Beauty, large acrylic on plastic blind

Opposition in Caribou Nude, acrylic on canvas

Painting reads: When the tutu have been raped is it only the tulugaq overhead that hears their sorrow. While the land bleeds from the violation, can deaf ears hear their whisper over the tundra. Can you see the gluttenous bellies fester as guilt eats within; taking revenge through their open, seeing eyes.

(tutu - caribou; tulugaq - raven)

Young Hunter II, acrylic pastel/paint on paper w/ handmade Thai paper accent

Acrylic & Pastel Paintings

Anivaaq, acrylic on handmade paper

The mother of Aakatchaq's most loved elder, the only successful painting created in her image, Freida Goodwin, the mother of Mary Goodwin



That One, acrylic on canvas
$400.00
Available





Kikiktagrukmiut, acrylic on canvas




Wearing Skin, acrylic pastel on paper, acrylic paint





In Our Time, acrylic pastel on paper











As They Were, acrylic pastel on paper











Capturing The Hunter, acrylic pastel on paper, acrylic paint

Pastel on Handmade Paper

Tupilaq Resurrected, "artifact resurrected" this is a large scale acrylic pastel on handmade paper

One of Aakatchaq's favorite images, this elder is adorned in chin tatoos as well as those up her arm to her shoulder, inside her forearm and across her breast.

$4000.00 w/ custom framing by Wendy Gould, Far North Framing
Available




Child no.2, pastel & watercolor on handmade paper

Caribou/Deer Skin Paintings

Aakatchaq begins with a raw hide, the hair still attached to the skin, and through a weeklong process, removes the hair and the membrane of the flesh side. Using traditional tools and methods to scrape the skin as well as to remove the hair, she turns out a unique and beautiful product to incorporate in her painting.

Amouluq One, acrylic pastel on caribou skin, caribou hair & handmade Thai paper

My First Tutu, acrylic on caribou skin




At Peace, acrylic on caribou skin

Untitled Woman, acrylic on canvas, deer skin from Klukwan, Alaska

One That Follows, caribou skin w/ gesso on back with an etched image of a woman

Nolaq Looking Back, acrylic on canvas, caribou skin

Prints Available

Four Prints: Native Nude, Amouluq Walking, Isinnaqmiut II, Season of Remembering

Native Nude printed on heavy museum quality watercolor paper, this beauty is adorned in traditional Inuit tatoos and wears seal skin leggings

$200.00/print

Available

Amouluq Walking, (great-grandfather walking) colorful raven lithograph print, spiritual realm of the Shaman

$45.00/print

Available

Isinnaqmiut II (elder from the village of Shungnak/blue on black) glossy print

$40.00/print

Available

Season of Remembering, Large limited edition Giclee swan print with certification of authenticity, printed on museum grade archival paper, border is black to enhance the frayed canvas backing. Two years & two cities for completion.

$300.00/print

Available

Kiana School Painting ~ Percent for Art ~

The largest painting of Aakatchaq's to date: 9' x 12' w/ 2" depth

Kiana School Percent for Art Commission

This 9' x 12' acrylic painting was done in nine panels, a colorful view of the unbridled beauty of the Kiana landscape entitled:

Kaatyakmiut Qinigaat: The people of Kiana are looking, it is visible to them and they can see it.

Close-up of caribou

Aluminum & Red Oak Sculptures

Swan & Caribou Aluminum with Red Oak
Laminated red oak risers, water-based stain, 3' end to end, available by commission


Swan #2











Tutu, (caribou) #1


Swan #1







Commission Double Fish: La Petite Pearl 3'

Swan In Repose, 5' water-based stained red oak w/ black latex paint embellishment

Close-up of swan w/ drizzle black accent

Artist Bio

Inupiaq Eskimo artist Aakatchaq (Ak-ah-chak) is Kikiktagrukmiut, born and raised above the Arctic Circle in Kotzebue, Alaska. Aakatchaq began creating art professionally in 1999, and continues to experiment with new materials such as moving from canvas portraits to those on stretched caribou and deerskins, or creating visual effects with caribou hair in paintings. More recently she began working with aluminum and wood whose sensual creations swim down the walls of the newly remodeled high school in the Northwest Arctic Borough in Northwest Alaska.

Her art began with acrylic paintings and has evolved from canvas to caribou & sealskin, to aluminum and wood pieces. She began carving walrus ivory tusks with exotic hardwood and more recently she began creating her caribou skin masks. All art inquiries can be directed to: aakatchaq@gmail.com

Artist Statement:

From the view of an Eskimo childhood

seen through the heads in the tundra

walking amidst the graves arose my ancestors

reborn. Focus of visions:

Eskimos walking atop frozen water

carrying the burden of a thousand years of living and dying upon their backs,

looking backwards into the eyes of a newborn,

remembering. The history of these deceased relatives

written upon their chins

in tattoos of beauty

and adornments of ivory labrets. On this frozen land walks a people

beneath a blinding white horizon.

They utter to their children-to-come of this Inupiaq life,

a living memory;

spoken through stories, myths, carvings

and paint.