Featured Artist: Phillip John "Aarnaquq" Charette

Phillip John Charette is an Alaska Native Yup'ik artist specializing in sculpture, Yup'ik spirit masks, and Native musical instruments. His art is rooted in historic and traditional Yup’ik “ways of being” learned throughout his life, utilizing his own contemporary style, form, and perspectives in creating artwork. Spirits, Yup'ik cosmology, and spiritual beings are his primary subject matter.

What do you enjoy most about being an artist?
The freedom to allow the Yua (spirit of the person), Aarnaquq, (the one who is dangerous) to flow through me; it is who I am in the Yup'ik tradition. By doing what I do, I say "Aarnaquq Cegg'artuq!" The one who is dangerous...is alive and awake!

When did you become interested in sculpture?
In school, art teachers entered me in art competitions and my work won many awards. Unfortunately, my father was against art as a profession so I pursued two bachelors’ degrees from UAF and a Masters from Harvard, in administration. In 1998, I left administration and started reevaluating what I really wanted to do. I began by taking a pottery class. Soon, I was teaching pottery and doing art shows. In 2001, I went full time into art focusing on Alaskan Native art, sculpture, and prints.

When did you become interested in music?
When I was young I had friends who had small bands, which enabled me to play around on drums, guitars, synthesizers, and organs. My father purchased an electronic organ for the family and Grandpa Charette encouraged us to play. My mom played the organ by ear, and would sing in our Yup'ik language all night; it was very beautiful. Through her, I learned how to play music by ear. In college, I was part of a Native dance group at the University of Alaska Fairbanks called Tuma (footsteps). As I dived deeper into music, our group sang and drummed throughout Alaska.

I started playing the flute after receiving one as a gift in 1995. Soon after making my first flute, word got out and the orders started coming. The more I understood how to properly make a flute and how to repair them, the more connected I became with the instrument as a flute player. In time, I learned how to become the flute and let the music flow through me. Recently, I recorded my first flute CD "Arctic Voices".

Where do your ideas come from?
I am merely a conduit for something else that flows naturally from and through me. My traditional pieces all have traditional elements through out the piece and connect to old stories. My contemporary pieces are new ideas and themes that use the same traditional elements. Sometimes, I will start on a piece, not knowing what the outcome will be. I work allowing the piece to come through the way it wants or needs to be. It is hard to explain but most of my ideas come from way deep inside; from a place of dreams and from a present, long past, and future.

What are your favorite projects and why?
My favorite projects are the old spiritual pieces taken from traditional stories, which I put into a contemporary form. I like doing these pieces because it re-connects the past to today and the future.

Are there any historical or contemporary artists that you specifically admire?
YES! Contemporary Maori Artist Darcy Nicholas is a friend and fellow artist whom I admire and have a great deal of respect for. He is a powerful warrior helping to sustain the traditions of the Maori in New Zealand. He is many things to many people, yet he is totally true to himself. His work is magnificent, powerful, and has a strong spiritual component.

What challenges have you found in your work?
Asking advice on how to execute elements of my work. Since I work in mixed media, many of my mentors (who specialize in specific areas) are not able to advise me when I push into other realms with my work. I've had to learn to become my own mentor and push the limits of the materials and ideas in ways that no one else has. When I do this, I rely on my brief engineering background to develop new tools and techniques to achieve a desired outcome.

What advice would you give someone wanting to create art for a living?
Learn how to eat Top Raman!....... I joke! Simply believe in your work and establish your own powerful "voice". It is a difficult and challenging journey to become recognized as a successful artist. Understand that your art is a business and that you NEED to work hard just like any other business, sometimes, especially before shows, working 80-100 hours a week.

Be brave and willing to take the risk to push traditional or contemporary art to the next level, no matter how some of the elders feel about what you are doing. This is difficult especially when there are devout Christian elders involved who see our old ways as demonic. Respect our elders but also realize that someone needs to take a stand and believe in our traditions, which many missionaries, churches, and other religious groups have beaten or taken away from us.

As an artist, I take a stand and say Aarnaquq Cegg'artuq, “The one who is dangerous is alive and awake!"