20" Masterpiece Walking Bear by Bill Nasogaluak

Inuit art: Scenting Bear 
Inuit Artist: Bill Nasogaluak
Size: 20" long, 9" high, 6" wide. Weight: 27 lbs 
Community: Yellowknife, NWT
id: d-6627eejjy

                                        MASTERPIECE CARVING 

I am always so excited to receive one of Bill Nasogaluak’s bears!

His walking bears in particular, tick all the right boxes.

The last "great" bear to enter our gallery was a walking bear by Nuna Parr.  Since then, nothing has struck my tempo until now.    

The definition of perfection is this glorious walking bear.

Nasogaluak’s walking bears are sleek and refined as opposed to rounded and chunky.

The facial features are meticulous in their realism.

The velvet smooth surface of the stone is transcendent. 

The stone is flawless.

Some of the greatest works of Inuit sculpture defy analysis. And sometimes the adjectives actually seem to contradict one another. How can a sculpture have a commanding presence and yet also be genuinely winsome? 

How can a work be quirky and naive and yet be highly refined? 

How can a sculpture be truly monumental and yet be so caressable?

Nasogaluak’s bear has all these qualities.  All the qualities of an exceptional masterpiece.

                                     PROUDLY CANADIAN SINCE 2008

Bill Nasogaluak (1953 - )

Bill was born in Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories. Bill said that his art was influenced by Michelangelo: “He could paint, and he could carve; awesome” (Nasogaluak in Mitchell 1996). As a child, he was painting, carving, and participating in art contests. Since 1992 he is carving full time. Bill was in a 1993 group show in San Francisco with his cousins Abraham Anghik Ruben and Joe Nasogaluak.  

Bill Nasogaluak’s started as a graphic artist, but in recent years he has focussed mostly on carving.

In 2007, Bill Nasogaluak created inukshuk sculptures on behalf of the Government of Canada for public spaces in Guatemala City, and Monterrey, Mexico. He also co-designed the Territorial Mace of the Northwest Territories, which was unveiled in 2000. In 1994, one of Bill's creations was given to Prime Minister Jean Chretien by the Government of the Northwest Territories.