Spirit Mask of Humans
by Matthew Tiulana, Inupiaq
ivory, baleen, scrimshaw, feathers
6” high x 6” wide x .25” deep
Matthew Tiulana was born September 2nd, 1952 in Nome, AK and, like most King Islanders, maintains a strong cultural identity with his native island. Tiulana comes from a talented family of artists including his father Paul who taught him to carve and his brothers Justin and Tom. Tiulana specializes in spirit masks set on a base, often with baleen rings around them. In his representations of various elemental spirits, like wind, to animal spirits, such as seal and walrus, Tiulana draws from the deep spiritual roots of the King Islanders’ traditional shamanistic religion in which man, animal and earth were all connected.
