Ronald Senungetuk

Ronald Senungetuk (/səˈnʌŋɡɛtˌʌk/ sə-NUNG-ɡet-uk;[1] 1933 – January 21, 2020)[2] (last name pronounced Sinuŋituk in Iñupiaq) was an Iñupiaq artist originally from Wales, Alaska, who worked primarily in wood and metal.[3]

Ronald Senungetuk
Born1933
Wales, Territory of Alaska
Died (aged 87)
NationalityIñupiaq
EducationRochester Institute of Technology
Known forsculpture, jewelry, painting
MovementAlaska Native art
AwardsFulbright Fellowship

Career

He is a citizen of the Native Village of Wales, a federally recognized Alaska Native tribe.[4] Senungetuk was a sculptor and silversmith and was known for his abstractions of animal figures. He attended the Bureau of Indian Affairs school in Sitka before training at the School for American Craftsmen at the Rochester Institute of Technology and received his B.A. in 1960. Senungetuk received a Fulbright Fellowship to study at Statens Håndværks og Kunstindustriskole Oslo, Norway.[5] He and his wife, Turid, an accomplished silversmith, lived in Homer.[6]

Senungetuk taught at the University of Alaska Fairbanks beginning in 1961.[7] He founded their metalsmithing program and served as director of its Native Art Center.[8] During his teaching career he emphasized modern style of jewelry-making, avant-garde conepts, and respect for native traditional imagery.[7] However, Senungetuk preferred not to be identified solely as a native artist, saying "A lot of people will call you an Eskimo artist. I'd rather be an artist who happened to be Inupiat."[9]

His work was exhibited at the Anchorage Museum, the Museum of the North at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, the Native Medical Center in Anchorage, and the Pratt Museum in Homer.[5][7]

His daughter is musician and ethnomusicology scholar Heidi Aklaseaq Senungetuk.[10]

Students
Man bending over a wooden, painted sculpture with a tool in his hand.
Senungetuk working on a Tingmeaqpuk (a giant bird) for the Denali Visitor Center exhibit. The art piece is a component of a large border surrounding the topographic model at the visitor center. The piece represents the Western/Beringia portion of Alaska.

Awards and recognition
  • 1979 State of Alaska Governor's Award for the Arts
  • 2008 Denali National Park Artist-in-Residence[12]
  • 2008 Rasmuson Foundation Distinguished Artist Award[13]

See also

Notes
  1. "Ron Senungetuk -- Panel Carving". YouTube. October 14, 2020. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  2. Gustafson, Kathleen (23 January 2020). "Artist Ron Senungetuk dies at 87". www.kbbi.org. Retrieved January 23, 2020.
  3. "Ronald Senungetuk." Museum of Art and Design. Retrieved 9 Dec 2013.
  4. "STATEMENT OF RONALD SENUNGETUK, UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA (written)". Alaskool.org. Retrieved 2023-08-30.
  5. "Ron Senungetuk: Alaskan Artist Remembered (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov. Retrieved 2021-11-11.
  6. Armstrong, Michael. "Art: It's all in family for Senungetuks." Homer News. 3 July 2008. Retrieved 9 Dec 2013.
  7. Baxter, Paula; Bird-Romero, Allison (2000). Encyclopedia of Native American Jewelry. Phoenix, AZ: Oryx Press. p. 158. ISBN 1573561282.
  8. History of the Native Arts Program of the UAF Art Department
  9. "Ron Senungetuk | UAF Centennial". uaf.edu. Retrieved 2021-11-11.
  10. "Heidi Aklaseaq Senungetuk". Kamloops Art Gallery. Retrieved 2022-12-31.
  11. Ruben, Abraham Anghik (Fall 2017). "Where We Go From Here: Four Generations and the New Arctic Reality". Inuit Art Quarterly: 54–63.
  12. Alaska Geographic artists-in-residence participants
  13. Ron Senungetuk Receives $25,000 Distinguished Artist Award


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