Sacred Hoop Trading

Native art of Alaska and Northern Canada reflects the harshness of the climate these people inhabit. As with most native groups, northern artists have developed creative ways to adapt to their environments and use indigenous materials to create art that reflects the culture, tradition, and heritage of their people. The Alaskan natives are best known for their ivory carvings, baleen and grass baskets, and masks and stone carvings. Remarkable in its richness and variety of expression, Alaskan native art has become very desirable with collectors worldwide. The Inuit of Northern Canada create stone sculpture that is richly varied. Figures of bears, seals, waterfowl, and humans are intricately crafted. Often elongated and fashioned to appear in a swimming or flying posture, many impart a Shamanistic significance. Spirit figures, mythological and traditional Shamonic images are common as well, ranging in style from the natural to the surreal. These and other Inuit carvings have become highly regarded in the last decade, steadily increasing in value and artistic prestige. Inuit prints have gained a tremendous following since the first exhibition in 1958. First introduce to printmaking by the legendary James Huston, the Inuit of Baker Lake, Pangnirtung, Holman Island, and Cape Dorset have become master printers. Strong in design, execution, and content, Inuit prints are truly among the most interesting and powerful creations in twentieth-century Native art.