Mark Tetpon, Inupiat Artist, Alaska

Alaska Inupiat artists, Mark 'Delutak' and John 'Nasoalook' Tetpon, are wood-walrus ivory-whale bone master carvers known to but a few lucky art patrons outside of Alaska and the Pacific Northwest. They have done numerous shows in Anchorage and Seattle, where their pieces are quickly acquired, thus secreting away knowledge of his works and awareness about their prodigious talent.

Many of Mark's pieces are showcased in corporate collections. His recent second collaboration, Seal Vision:Shared Spirt, with Don Johnston and Terresa White resulted in a stunning, award winning piece in the virtual March 2021 Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair and Market. This sculpture took Best of Class and First in Division, Bronze Sculpture, and was purchased for the Heard's permanent collection. The first edition now resides at the Portland Art Museum.

Mark’s work depict sea mammals or birds as they are understood within the spiritual realms of his people. A sculptured polar bear or walrus might be drumming; an honoring mask that depicts a loon or seal’s body will be surrounded by a dozen smaller sculptures paying homage to the life of The People.

Mark’s father, John 'Nasoalook', from the traditional village of Shaktoolik along the Bering Sea Coast near Nome, mentored him in the ways of the Inupiaq people and during Mark’s early artistic endeavors.  John was taught to carve walrus ivory by his father and collaborates with Mark on particular pieces. The deep and valued traditions of using Walrus ivory and Whale baleen in contemporary art continues, and Raven Makes Gallery is grateful to this family for that!

See Mark and John's work here in our Arctic Art collection.