Description:

Melvin Olanna
Inupiat (Shishmaref), 1941-1991
Running Bear
Stainless steel
Signed and numbered 9/30 on foot. On granite base. Cast from the artist's last sculpture in 2014.
'Running Bear' is featured on the cover of 'Asitona: The Childhood Story of Melvin Olanna' by Karen Olanna, 2009.

Melvin Olanna was an Alaskan Native artist from Shishmaref, Alaska, born in 1941. He grew up living a subsistence lifestyle in Ikpik, near Shishmaref, with challenges early in life. Olanna was born with one leg an inch and a half shorter than the other, and suffered from tuberculosis at a very young age, which is when he began drawing to pass the time in the hospital. He learned to carve from his father eventually earning a fellowship to the American Indian Arts School in Santa Fe, New Mexico. After New Mexico, he returned to Alaska and attended the University of Alaska-Fairbanks, enrolling in the newly formed Alaskan Native Arts Program. During his lifetime, he created many beautiful and artistic sculptures, carvings, and woodcut prints. He has many sculptures in the museums around Alaska and many outdoor sculptures around Fairbanks. Melvin died of a heart attack at a young age in 1991 in Suquamish.

  • Provenance: Purchased from Boreal Traditions, Anchorage, AK, 2017
  • Dimensions: 10 1/2 x 29 x 8 in. (26.7 x 73.7 x 20.3 cm.), On base: 11 3/4 x 29 x 9 1/2 in. (29.8 x 73.7 x 24.1 cm.)
  • Medium: Stainless steel
  • Condition:
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October 3, 2025 10:00 AM CDT
St. Louis, MO, US

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