Looking Between

Basswood, cedar, furniture tacks. nails, buoy rubber, acrylic

Looking Between is a spirit mask sharing a story of the place by the water’s edge. The space between the sky and water/land. A Calm and stormy area at times. Always revealing transition, life, and death.

53”x57”x5”

October, 2024

Located at the Stonington Gallery in Seattle, WA for the 45th anniversary show in December.

Inua Spirit

"Inua Spirit Man"

30X60X2

"Inua Spirit Man" has three main themes.

The main form the body is very elongated with a main head on the top, this represents an iconic being that one may see an old church or the Bible. The feathers create an imaginary line around the head acting like a halo you would see on icons within the church.

The second element relates to the chakras starting from the base of the form up to face in the icon being. If you take the time to look at the two faces within the form, one is located on the top of the icon and the second is located where the heart chakra would be. To find true balance in oneself there has to be communication between the head and the heart, that's when you will find your true voice.

The last element connects the human and the animal spirits together in what one may see in old Yupik masks as human and animal elements. If you look at the hand on the left there is a hole in the middle of it. On the old masks this would represent the spirits coming in and out of this form to communicate their message. The fingers on this hand are colored dark to represent how old shamans with dip their hands in the earth before they were to heal somebody. This would be a form of purification and connecting to the earth along with protecting oneself from evil spirits. If you look at the ring finger on the left hand you will see that it is dark and has a line flowing up the arm and into the heart space. This represents how our spirits are connected directly to our heart and our head.

My second description during building of sculpture blow.

“Inua Spirit” is a sculpture figure that originally I drew out on a paper and then carved a wood panel. The panel was then rolled over with a steam roller to create a block print. The image has brought many people joy and tells of a bird who is sharing' its inner spirit with the onlooker. After many years of loving the image I decided it was time to create a physical being. Both sides are mirror images of itself. I had a couple moments when I couldn’t believe I was witnessing this spirit come to life and share its inner spirit with me.

My dream is to cast this sculpture in bronze or another metal.

Basswood, mahogany, acrylic

September 2024

Water’s Edge

Water is life. We come from water and Earth.  In this show, I want to bring us to the water’s edge to appreciate and honor, the spirits of water, animals, and land.  I was born a mirror twin in the month of March near the Kuskokwim River in Bethel, AK and I have always felt a connection to bodies of water. In many communities around the world people live by some form of water whether it be a river, lake or the ocean. In these places where the water and the land meet many things transform. Life comes to existence. And life is taken away. And just as the ebb and flow of the water, our lives are transformed and changed as things come in and out. The Yup’ik  people of Western, Alaska believe that everything has spirit and in this time we must honor and protect the waters that we so rely on for subsistence and our ways of life. I hope are able you look into the spirits represented here and you can take the time to remember the importance of water, and protecting the lands that they connect to, and the animals that live within and around.

Yup’ik masks have been used for centuries to connect us to the spirits that live in the waters, animals, and lands around us. We rely on these animals to give themselves to us when we hunt, fish, or gather. As a person wears a mask they embodied the spirit that is represented on that mask.

During times before colonial or outside influences, many masks would be created and worn in pairs or multiples.  As they were collected these pairs were separated and dispersed around the world to many museums or private collections.  Many of the pieces in the show were created in pairs to share the importance of these twins or partners and their relationships between each other and ourselves.  This aspect of mask wearing would create a relationship between the spirits and foil the personalities of the spirits.   Traditionally people would gather from the whole community and have a song and dance that accompanies the mask as it is being worn. With the storytelling, we are able to send prayers to the spirits and spirit world.

Often times these masks would experience a transformation physically by being changed through elements like water, earth, fire, or leaving it out on the land to decompose naturally.  As a mask went through a transformation through an element, we hoped and prayed that we would have a spiritual transformation as well. In a way giving an offering to the spirits.

My hope is that as you look at these masks and other objects in this show, you will see the spirits and consider giving your own offering.

Basswood, furniture tacks, acrylic

August 2024

Large Dance Fans (In Process)

Large Dance fans with masks on either side of both fans. More information to come.

Basswood, feathers, caribou fur, acrylic

11”x9”x1.25”

June 2024

Visit Anchorage/ Alaska Federation of Natives Community Magnet 2024

2”x3”x.01

Barrow, Alaska Covid Community Mask

Hosted our 6th Covid Community Mask session with the community of Barrow, Alaska. A beautiful and healing time. A local native pastor accepted the mask on behalf of the community. He prayed over the mask and praised it’s healing story.

Calm of the North

More information coming soon

Basswood, oak, furniture tacks, buoy rubber, French nails, acrylic

52”x53”x6”

June 2024

Golden Dreams

These icons were inspired by the Solstice summer light. The golden sun reflects off the land and water helping one to connect to the place and honor the gifts of life.

Basswood, oak, furniture tacks, feathers, acrylic

31.5”x9”x2”

June 2024

Looking to the North

Looking to the North is a simplistic mask that opens the eyes of the viewer to the calm colors of the Alaskan North. I spent some time in the most northern areas of Alaska and have loved the vast space and simplicity in view. The land, water, and sky carry so much energy and one can be changed by the contrast.

Basswood, feathers, acrylic, furniture tacks

27”x23”x5.5”

June 2024

Dance Fans

These Yupik style dance fans are designed after a pair documented and taken from Western Alaska by ethnographic researcher Edward William Nelson in 1900. The original design had feathers and parts of caribou neck tuff surrounding the perimeter of the wooden fans. The description of their meaning only mentioned that women would use these and the meaning is unknown. This is probably due to the worldview that Nelson had, being a Christian, ignored the spiritual meanings because in his mind they were not of the Christian God.

Basswood, acrylic, caribou hair

15”x15”x.5”

May 2024

Looking two ways

This double faced mask was inspired by the change of seasons and the colors of the summer sun and the darker colors of the winter. The basswood carved is much thinner than many of the masks I’ve made in the past. I have always loved relief carvings in stone and other materials and I took an opportunity to create a relief carving of my own.

Basswood, feathers, acrylic, furniture tacks

31”x27”x2”

May 2024

Shades of the North

Basswood, oak, feathers, acrylic

18”x18”x2.5”

May 2024

Nuna

SALT Design

This Yupik style mask was created to show the power and energy of the land and place of Anchorage, Alaska. The word, Nuna, means this place or land around. The center of the face has a brass plate representing the sun positioned over the Anchorage bowl mountains. The layers of concentric circles reach out from the center, sharing the sunset colors of the sky. There is a white line reaching from the snow covered ground reminding us to be grounded. The hole in the forehead helps connect us to the power of place and the spirit of the Creator or Higher Power and spirits around. On the chin are markers of age and gender and include both women’s tattoos and men’s labrets. The nails representing the labrets are hand made nails from Paris, France. 

 Basswood, Oak, brass plate, French nails, recycled buoy, acrylic paint Drew Michael March 2024

Seal mask for Drew Michael Endowment Fund fundraiser

More information to come

Basswood, oak wood, feathers, acrylic, furniture tacks

Blanket design for HBO’s “True Detective” Night Country 2024

Amy Fredeen Memorial Mask

Commission by Cook Inlet Tribal Council

This mask was commissioned by CITC in 2023 and was finished a year later to honor Amy Fredeen. Amy worked with CITC for many years connecting people and building into the future of our communities. I spent a year talking with her family to help bring in elements of who she was and her passions. The main body is carved of a piece of cedar wood I have saved for a special piece for close to 10 years. I brought in elements of things she carried with her. She had a love of color, red being her favorite. As I spoke with her family they shared a swan tattoo with an infinity sign bringing the swans together. The upper section of the mask shares the changing sky from day time colors to the setting sun and the night sky. One of Amy’s dreams was to have traditional tattoos from her Inupiaq people marked on her chin and forehead. The red lines on the forehead separating the colors of the sky carry her tattoos. I added beads connecting the two sides of one hoop to mimic earrings worn by our ancestors.

Cedar, oak, acrylic, beads, buoy material, nails

Anchorage Museum Auctioned Mask

Ninebark Apartment Community Mask

Vida Design commissioned this large scale mask for a residential apartment complex in Washougal, Washington called Ninebark.

There are nine buildings surrounding a central community hall. Within the community hall is a mask that I carved using Basswood. The colors on this mask connect to the colors of the building and space, land, water, spirit world and humanity of the Pacific North West.

55”x55”x5”

Buckland, AK Covid Community Mask

Dillingham Community Mask with Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium

Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium Covid Community Mask

This ply wood mask was created for an Immunization community event with healthcare workers within Alaska. This was partly a trial run piece to help us begin this process of community conversations about our experiences through covid. During these sessions people create their own paper masks depicting their experiences through covid and the shut down. Everyone has a chance to tell and share about their masks to the group in the form of a talking circle. As a team, we take notes and photos of all the masks and I compile them into a community story. This was one of the first masks we created in this process.

Sealaska Heritage Faces of Alaska Yupik Mask cast in Bronze

Arctic Lands, is a Yupik style mask designed with colors of the North. The bottom half of the mask is about grounding ones self and connecting to the land of Northwestern Alaska. The chin carries some traditional women's chin tattoos and labrets worn by men.

The hands are reaching into our humanity and the fingertips touch the spirits in hopes of connection. The hands do not have a thumb because we do not want the spirits to take hold. With the center of the palms, the cheeks, open to allow the spirits to flow through.

The nose carries a line that reaches to the forehead. This is a reminder to connect and be open to the Creator, Higher Power, God. Always reaching out side of self and lifting up others and the spirits of the world around.

This Yupik style mask was designed to share the power of place and the connection we as people can have with spirits that are all around. Yupik people believe that all things carry energy. As a mask or masks were used in community, stories were shared and spirits were honored in hopes of a healthy hunting and gathering season. People are transformed by masks when they are used and the persons wearing the masks embody the spirits they represent.

This piece was part of Sealaska Heritage

Institute's "Faces of Alaska" project to share masks from many peoples around Alaska. I created the Yupik style or this series of five. The mask was carved by myself and cast in bronze at the Classic Foundry in Seattle, Washington and shipped to Juneau, Alaska where I resides today.

74”x69”x6”

Love Birds

The Watcher (Raven Mask)

Seal Mask

This Seal mask is whole. Took many months and traveled across much of this continent to arrive in Alaska. The seal needed to touch Ak in order to find life. This piece has real seal claws from Tatitlek, AK. A friend and myself helped a hunter remember how to honor and support the seal’s spirit as it journeyed through the spirit world. We pour water into it’s mouth and said a prayer for it. We saved the claws and many years later, now, I have been able to find their home. Both the seal mask and the claws now have life to share:). Measuring 6 feet, 3 inches long. Thank you spirit of the seal and @urbantribecollection for helping make this come to life. And @jamesniklaus for taking this beautiful photo. Makes this pop for sure.

Tulukaruq (Raven Mask)

Tulukaruq (Raven) mask is done!:). This piece was made with the moon filled sky backdropping a Raven flying. This piece will be on show here in Portland Oregon for one month. Basswood, feathers, acrylic, nails, and oak. 37x31x7 March 2022 photo by @jamesniklaus

Ocean Songs

This piece was inspired by my time out in Quinhagak at the Nunalleq archaeological dig. Also my time teaching throughout the west coast of Alaska.

The ocean is full of life and it is very powerful. And in the same breath it can bring healing. During my times by the ocean many things come to the surface, burdens we carry, gifts, release, history, pain, love, and signs from the spirit world. I wanted to make a piece that takes you to the ocean to find a piece of yourself and a connection to the place full of spirit and life.

These are my first set of dance fans, that are similar to some found in A book called, “Eskimo about Bering Strait” written by Edward William Nelson. This style is from an area called Big Lake between the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers. Meaning is unknown but are used by women dancers. They are the eyes of the dancer.

This piece is essentially a dance kit without a drum

The backdrop is made of walnut with acrylic paint. The wood is leftovers from an installation at CITC here in Anchorage.

Mask: basswood, oak, acrylic
Backdrop: walnut, acrylic, beads, nails
Frame: scrap wood possibly Fir
Fans: basswood, moose hair, feathers, acrylic
#yupikmask #yupikdancefans #drewmuk #oceanlife This item will be available at the Smokehouse Gala for First Alaskans Institute on November, 19th, 2022. See you there!:)

Sealaska Heritage Yupik Mask for the Kooteìeyaa Deiyìì/Faces of Alaska

Finding my Direction

Kobuk Coffee House Mural of Full Spectrum mask

Full Spectrum, 2023-2023

This mural was created to bring color to the beige city of Anchorage. The image is based on a contemporary Yup'ik mask titled Full Spectrum.

Artist Statement: Since I make masks full-time, I felt it was important to showcase the transformational aspect of masks while visually changing the space in downtown Anchorage.

The colors in the mask share the full spectrum of light broken up and scattered across the face. Just like the variety of colors in the mural and mask, our community is made up of so many types of people from many different places and backgrounds. Our strength is in the diversity found within our community. We shine brighter when our people stand together.

Part of an Anchorage downtown mural project coordinated by the Anchorage Museum.

Support provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency, CIRI, and The Kobuk.

www.drewmichael.art

(http://www.drewmichael.art/)

@drewmuk

Protection

When the world feels utterly overwhelming and anxiety is abounding, we can all relate to the desire to seek out a sense of safety. For artist Drew Michael, responding to the complexities of isolation and fear in the height of a global pandemic meant manifesting a physical representation of Protection from within and bringing this sigil of safety to life through careful carving and dedicated craftsmanship. Drew was acutely aware that the peace and calm he was seeking was something he would have to create with his own hands, so he did exactly that.

The hours spent working on this Protection mask would open up a space of familiar peace for Drew, one found in the calm of performing meditative hard work and prolonged focus on the process and repetitive rhythm of carving. Working on this piece allowed him to dwell within his own peace. The work grounded and balanced him, duly serving it’s intended purpose.

Turning inward, he also chose to acknowledge and explore the interplay of the masculine and feminine sides of a person through the inclusion of strong masculine features balanced with a soft pink feminine lip color. The hands reaching outward from the sides of the piece appear to offer a hug or perhaps a helping hand. Drew considers the power of the hands, in that they at once can be used to harm, and simultaneously protect, nurture, and help. The open palms are welcoming, reaching out as if to say, “all are welcome, you are safe.”

The materials involved also lend themselves to the notion of safety. The nails included in the piece were given to Drew in Paris, France, and had been originally part of the structure of the building he was staying in. They are likely handmade and from the 1700s, making them a key feature of that structure for many decades. The inclusion of them in the mask nods to the idea of support, or structural soundness. You may also notice that the price for this piece is set as $3333.33 and this is quite intentional. The number 333 is also referred to as the angel’s number, which signifies good luck and that you are on the right path in your life. This price has been set to further imbue the Protection mask with more spiritual elements of good luck, safety, and protection.

Cook Inlet Tribal Council’s Resiliency Mask

The Life She Carries

Bones, Shells, Sea Glass, Nasturtium Seeds, Flowers, Goose Feathers, Copper, Redwood, Mahogany Stain, Mahogany Base, Nails, Brass Nails

• 71.25"h

• 27.50"w

• 14.75"d

Brown Angel (Brown Angle Shades-owlet moth)

In June, 2020 During my time in isolation I had feelings of anxiety and fear. Portland became a war zone of police brutality against the people standing up in solidarity for humanity and the rights of all.

I was looking for some relief in all of this. Then a series of four moths appeared through out a day. One was on the lock to my studio door, another crawled up my back and I spotted it in a mirror, one was under a work table top, and another came out of some boxes of supplies. That particular moth was a Large Yellow Underwig, a species of owlet moths.

In Maine and a butter fly moth came to a garden and showed its beauty. In Portland, Oregon on our deck a plain plume moth came to us and hung out for many days.

Moths have been a large part of this season in my life and I felt it was time to create something to honor the quiet healer.

This mask was designed after the Brown Angle Shades Moth, a species of owlet moths. I named the piece Brown Angel to pay tribute to the BLM and POC movements and to share something of beauty that has given me some relief.

The wings move along the hoop track and give the moth life.

Basswood, Myrtle wood, vintage pony hide, poly fabric, wire, beads, feathers, caribou hair, acrylic, copper wire, metal tacks, rabbit fur, air system ball joints, nails, screws, and Oak wood.

December, 2020

Ocean Sounds

27X24X6

This last couple of months being home more I have spent a lot of time thinking about the openness of the world that I can not go out into as easily as in the past. I look up at the sky, as all dreamers do, to imagine a world beyond that rainbow. Or in this instance, quarantine. I literally look into the sky and see the beauty beyond my current world. I take time to remember the smells of the salt water and the grasses blowing in the wind. And see the freedom in those wide open and powerful waters edges. It is a time of transition and I hope to remember and honor the beauty and gifts around.

May 2020

Wood, acrylic, oak, feathers, fur, wire, quills and stain.

Life’s Eye

19x19x6
Life’s Eye is a being who looks out into the world and captures the eye of a person and shares the connections to the universe and our lives in spiral. As we live things come back through and our minds are twisted. Not knowing if we are living a dream or reality, maybe both. Looking at the center and connecting to the energy in and outside ourselves and sharing this truth. Becoming whole.
As the mask wearer looks up the mouth opens to give breath and voice to this cosmic spirit.

Wood, ash, feathers, brass metal, French handmade nails, bone, stain, magnets, and oil paints

April 28th, 2020

Arctic Visions

30x30x14

We sat talking, sharing, listening, and learning about our lives changed by events of conquest and restructuring.  We were looking at what we had left and what we wanted.  We challenged each other’s views and ideas while looking deep into the real expressions of who we all were.  I kept thinking about the reason we were there, “to look for visions into who we are, what we value, and how we can take that knowledge and use it to change our lives”.  Hopefully changing in a direction that is more true and that can honor all parts of the world.  

Because we had conversations from the perspective of place, Alaska, I kept in my mind the most burned image, the blue skies, and the snow covered lands that stretch as far as the eye can see.  I thought of an owl I saw in the frozen Arctic.  How I would spot it sitting on a rock in the middle of a lake with a road circling around.  I remember looking and seeing the eyes look at me from so far away.  The owl seems to bring wisdom and a focus in what is seen.  

Most of the appendages on this mask are installed with materials that allow the parts to move as a dancer moves.  Giving the mask some life and a way to expand the seen story.  I hope to pull the viewer in with the eyes and the life in this piece.  Changes are happening and we need a vision of where we are going, and use the tools within our own selves and our cultures to perpetuate a way of life that is in balance. 

Basswood, furn baleen, metal grommet, ash wood synthetic sinew, found bullet casings, acrylic paint.

April 28th, 2020

Everyone Wears Donlin

17x13x3.5

Bring to the surface the issues of manipulation of Culture, Land and the extractive Donlin Gold Mine in Alaska.

Companies move into a place planning their attack on the land, the resources, and the people. Our future is threatened by the hypnotic eye of extractive capitalistic gain which typically leaves people and the future of place and how we live with the land in an uncertain outlook. Capitalism carries idol promises of job security, community support, engineered safety and control, and water and tailings management meant to protect fish habitat water systems.

As a collective our communities accept and enforce policies that allow for extractive resource development. No Safety measures can change toxic and possible radioactive contamination of the land, waters, and the people. We only have one planet and as we continue to use our resources, our future and the planets health are left to decay. We have been blinded by our own roofied acceptance of a slow death of the world as we know it.

We can not only talk about Climate Change. Our next step is to look at ways we can realistically and intentionally invest in the future of the Earth’s health, our personal actions, and the health of all living things. Cultural norms can be changed but pressures will only push on us for so long until our systems and our ways of living will be forced to change. We can look to the past of the early 1900s when people were exploring possibility. We can think of new ways of progress that uses what we have. I don’t know the answers, but I do see that our time to make specific and intentional change is upon us.

“Everyone Wears Donlin” is a face with a map of the Donlin Gold mine site as submitted to the DNR for permits. The blue spaces are the water reservoirs used to process the tailings and earth materials. Pink areas are parts of the foot print for either facilities, gravel pits and tailings storage. The metal rod spanning across the nose to the cheek represents the water pipe from the processing facility. This dumps directly into the river. Along the river on the left hand side of the face there are nails tapped into show surface water test sites.

Basswood, acrylic paint, brass metal, oak, nails

September 2019

Emergence

30X8x7

Emergence has an origin point in the center of the torso.  This represents a space in which this being is burrowing out ofThe inner beauty is being revealed when a heart is opened and the most vulnerable parts of who one is are nurtured to show their true colors.

Basswood, acrylic, feathers, hardware, nails, and stain.

February 2017

Our Lady

57x29x4

"Ray Echoes" is about Santa Fe. It's influenced by the sunny days and long big black nights. There are beautiful silhouettes of the mountains that expand across this piece. The blue sky is filled with turquoise. The sun begins with the opening of the heart space and an Ora of energy and life is emulating out.

Basswood, ash wood, acrylic and stain. 

January 2016

7 hands

34x8x3.5
"7 Hands" was originally created with 7 hands and as I progressed with the piece in form I decided I only wanted 6 hands pulling the heart space open.  This piece is an expression of my realization to let go in love relationships.  If I let go in a relationship and learn to trust someone then I will truly find the love I am looking for.  I will in turn let go of my need to hold onto something so tight that I destroy it.  I will be able to love without expectation.  The ironic thing about this piece is that I am communicating the idea of letting go but I have used hands holding and pulling on the heart space to show this action. 

Basswood, acrylic, bronze cast hands, and stain. 

January 2016

Asking

60X24X5
This being represents the "Asking Festival" held in St. Michael's, AK in November just after the fish have left the shallow water along the coast and the people have gathered their food for the winter. Men would gather in the kashim and paint bodies with a mixture of charcoal and oil stripes and dots and stomp around. Then later the men would travel to each dwelling and display this nature using wooden dishes and ask for food of the women in each home. Later a man would present a wand, called an ai-ya-g'uk made of bent wood hoops, to each man and ask them what things they desired, being an object or sex with women or same sex person. The man who carried the wand would then go to the person in the village and present what the man had asked for. The person who was presented with the desire would then tell the wand carrier with something they want in return. The wand carrier would then present this request to the man doing the asking. After the men return to the men's house faces were washed with urine. The asking is of both the hearth and the root chakra.

Basswood, poplar wood, veneer, cotton twine, feathers, acrylic, oil paint, metal tacks, wooden dowel rod, feathers, copper plate, eye hooks and stain. 

December 2015

Transcendence

60X21X4
"Transcendence" is a being that is connected to the Grand Spirit that connects to everything and is everything.  Life comes down from the Grand Spirit when the heart and the humanness are open , this is when activation happens.  The heart center is open in this form and is shown in a raw color and form to represent the humanness.  The base of the piece is burnt to show the connection to the Earth.  Our humanness has to stay connected to the Earth in order to fully experience life.  The bent wood "halo" is open to the ground and the heavens and is reaching out from the sides to connect with other beings, spirits, and the universe. 

Basswood, red cedar, acrylic, cut nails, dowel rod and stain. 

December 2015