Son of the famous graphic artist and sculptor Kiakshuk (1886-1966), Lukta followed in his father’s footsteps to become one of Cape Dorset’s most renowned printmakers and sculptors. Recognized as a talented carver already in his mid-twenties, Lukta was one of the artists chosen to create the Legislative Mace of the Northwest Territories in 1955. Soon after, he was one of the four young men recruited by James Houston to be trained as master printmakers. Subsequently Lukta devoted most of his time and energy to working in the Kinngait printmaking studio where he created almost 20 of his own images but, perhaps more significantly, well over two hundred print images for other artists from the 1950s through to the 1990s. Lukta carved occasionally throughout this time but began carving seriously again in the late 1980s, creating beautiful sculptures that in style, scale, and workmanship are comparable to those of his peers Osuitok Ipeelee and Kiugak Ashoona. Lukta is perhaps best known for his depictions of elegant birds. With its stylized grace and dignity of bearing, this superb Young Kneeling Caribou absolutely rivals contemporaneous examples by Osuitok.

References: Spirit Wrestler Gallery, Vancouver, Lukta: Master Artist of Cape Dorset, March-April 1999, cat. 13; Ingo Hessel, Arctic Spirit: Inuit Art from the Albrecht Collection at the Heard Museum, (Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre / Phoenix: Heard Museum, 2006), cat. 97.