Transforming Shaman in Flight is an exemplary piece that captures the deliciously macabre, wickedly humorous, and meticulously crafted works for which Nick Sikkuark is most renowned. Characteristic of his most sought-after style, this work embodies Sikkuark’s interest in the complementary and contrasting ways in which organic Arctic materials can be sculpted and textured. Here, the porous bone body of the shaman, his tapering and solid antler tusks, and the fur that sprouts from his nose like freshly watered plants create a vivid contrast amongst themselves as well as with the base of caribou antler and skull over which he flies, hovering above a highly polished bone egg.

References: For more information on the artist and his work see Marion Scott Gallery, The Art of Nick Sikkuark: Sculpture and Drawings, (Vancouver: Marion Scott Gallery, 2003). See the section on the artist in Darlene Coward Wight, Art & Expression of the Netsilik, (Winnipeg: Winnipeg Art Gallery, 2000), pp. 32-43. For important sculptures by Sikkuark in the Sarick Collection at the AGO, see Ingo Hessel, Inuit Art: An Introduction, (Douglas & McIntyre, 1998), figs. 95-96; and Gerald McMaster ed., Inuit Modern: The Samuel and Esther Sarick Collection, (Toronto: Art Gallery of Ontario, 2010), pp. 148-149. For a discussion of Sikkuark's sculptural style see Robert Kardosh's two-part article, "Natural Fantasia: The Wonderful World of Nick Sikkuark”: Part I in Inuit Art Quarterly (Spring 2005), pp. 8-14, and Part II in Inuit Art Quarterly (Summer 2005), pp. 10-16.