John Hoover

John Hoover was born in Cordova, Alaska to an Aleut-Russian mother and Dutch father. One of the great sculptors to emerge from Alaska in the post-war period, Hoover’s work was part of a continent-wide revival of First Nations art and culture in the 1960s and 70s. Along with fellow artists like Norval Morrisseau, Bill Reid, and Hoover’s close friends Fritz Scholder and Charles Loloma, Hoover sought to nurture and protect Indigenous imagery and traditions that had been repressed during his youth. [1]

Initially influenced by Northwest Coast carving traditions, particularly historical Salish sculpture, Hoover developed his own highly original style, drawing both on the natural environment of the Western Arctic, as well as on imagery from his own diverse cultural lineage. [2]

While Hoover’s oeuvre spans paintings, carved panels, and mobiles, his mature style is most commonly associated with his use of relief-carved diptychs and triptychs. Often hinged, the works can be opened or closed to reveal contrasting inner and outer images. The interplay of designs is informed by Aleut transformation mythology, but Hoover has cited his exposure to Russian Orthodox travelling icons as an influence on their overall form. [3] Notably to their Orthodox owners, travel icons offer mobile protection, but in turn also need to be protected, valuable visions of the sacred in a life fraught with earthly dangers.

When closed, Grebe Spirit depicts a pair of Grebes, or diving birds encircling the face of a spirit. Diving birds are closely associated with shamanism by the Aleut, and appear in several works by Hoover dating to the 1970s and 80s. When opened, the birds in the present work divide into four—the two inner grebes integrated into the design of the central figure.

A large and important work by Hoover, Grebe Spirit was selected for inclusion in the seminal 1981 publication by Julie Decker, John Hoover: Art & Life, where it appears in a full colour plate. [4]

[1] Julie Decker, John Hoover: Art & Life (Seattle Washington: University of Washington Press, 2014), 62.
[2] Julie Decker, John Hoover, 28.
[3] Ibid, 38.
[4] Ibid, 39.