24. Three Shaman Drummers

“The shaman drummers were inspired by the series of Yup’ik masks that I carved for this exhibition. Each drummer has a mask representing the land, sky and sea. After carving the bird shaman and securing his mask, I decided to give the caribou and walrus shamans’ removable masks. These drummers took a long time to carve because of all the detailed carving—the walrus shaman even has a knife that can be removed from its sheath. I deliberately made all three of them left handed as it worked better with the composition.”

Billy Gauthier