Drew Michael is a dynamic Yup’ik/Inupiaq artist whose work often draws on themes of identity, trauma, and healing. Michael has honed his skills with early instruction from the likes of Kathleen Carlo-Kendall (1952-), Larry Ahvakana (1946-), and Joe Senungetuk (1940-2023) - three of Alaska’s most celebrated artists. The influence of Carlo-Kendall and Senugnetuk is especially apparent in Michael’s masks, which often incorporate found objects and draw from both historic Yup’ik and Inupiaq mask motifs and Judaeo-Christian religious iconography. [1] Along with other emerging and mid-career Alaska Native artists such as Alison Bremner (Tlingit), Erin Gingrich (Koyukon/Inupiaq), and Kimberly Fulton Orozco (Kaigani Haida), Michael is a part of the next generation of makers pushing boundaries and bringing Alaska Native art to an international audience.

This charming and colourful owl mask draws heavily from the Yup’ik Yua hoop mask traditions of western and southwestern Alaska in its form. The mask diverges in its details, though, with the inclusion of nails and the use of pyrography to make an object that crosses into pop culture and alludes to a Western carnival mask. Owls have long been an important and popular image in circumpolar art, and this mask connects Michael’s work to that tradition. The mixed media details of this mask also tie it to the work of his mentor, Kathleen Carlo-Kendall, and even the late Yup’ik modernist Lawrence Beck (1938-1944), with whom Carlo-Kendall had often worked.

It’s notable that Drew Michael has shared quite a lot about this mask and its inspiration, so I have partially* reproduced it here: “The spirit of the Owl has shown itself to me in many different occasions in my life. I remember as a young person thinking about an animal that represented part of my spirit. I remember feeling the owl carry this energy and space.During my recent trip to Boulogne-sur-mer I rode in a car with my friend Florence on a country road over looking a field with livestock and green grasses. We rode quietly due to our small frustration in not being able to communicate in French or English fluently. So we rode enjoying the space and our friendship. As we rounded a corner an Owl medium sized and white, and light brown flew from behind a barbed wire fence above the road and out into the field on the downside of the hill. Florence stopped the car and I said, “Ebu”. I had learned the French word for owl last year while in France. We sat there and watched the owl fly around the area for a moment when another owl shot up into the air. We were startled by the second owl when a third and fourth owls flew in a similar pattern into the sky and out over the downward field. We sat there wild with emotion and awe as the four owls flew around.” [2]

* Please see link to Stonington Gallery for the quote in its entirety.

1. Drew Michael biography. https://www.drewmichael.art/new-index. Accessed March 14, 2025.

2. Whispering Spirits. https://stoningtongallery.com/artwork/untitled-mask-i/. Accessed March 14, 2025.

Christopher W. Smith