Inuit Sculpture Subject of November 12 Environmental Lecture Series by David Piqtuokun

SALISBURY, MD--David Ruben Piqtuokun, an Inuit sculptor from Canada, speaks about his art on Friday, November 12, at 5:30 p.m. at Salisbury State University.

Piqtuokun's talk, part of SSU's fall lecture Series, The Environment and the 21st Century, is in Room 111 of Fulton Hall. Admission is free and the public is invited.

His sculptures often incorporate the face of Sila, the wind god. They are on display in Europe, Canada, the United States and Greenland.

Piqtuokun, 49, spent his youth traveling with his family in search of good hunting grounds in the Northwest Territories. His work reflects these experiences.

"I enjoyed traveling, seeing the country, watching the determination of the elders and hunters as they struggled to acquire game for survival," he said.

The Inuits are a group of native people of northern North America, the original inhabitants of areas from Greenland and East Canada to Alaska. Today, this group is generally called Eskimos.

"Everybody shared what they had and I enjoyed that," the sculptor said. There were nine brothers and six sisters in his family.

More than a dozen group exhibitions have featured Piqtuokuns artistry. One, Master of the Arctic, was on display at the United Nations in New York City and later at the Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C.

He has been a guest speaker at such diversified venues as the University of Michigan Museum of Art in Ann Arbor, The Turtle Museum in Niagara Falls, NY, and a United Nations seminar in New York City.

The Faculty Cultural Events Committee, University Galleries and the Multiethnic Committee are sponsoring Piqtoukun's lecture. For more information, contact Salisbury State at 410-543-6271.