Join us at 8 pm ET/5 pm PT on Sunday, October 18, for a virtual presentation with Siberian Nenets artists Viktor and Inna Iadne.
The artists will be introduced by Curator, Lynn Feasey of Points North Creative.
Viktor and Inna Iadne are master carvers of the Nenets people, from Siberia’s Yamal Peninsula, and if you haven’t come across their work before, this is a wonderful way to meet it for the first time. They now live and work in New York City, yet each of their intricate pieces holds the traditions of their homeland. You will learn how the Nenets culture shapes their art and how their work brings that knowledge into conversation with the world we live in now. Lynn has known the Iadnes since 2015, when she met them as Curator of the Circumarctic Art Show in Reykjavik, Iceland.
Viktor Iadne is a sculptor working in bone, mammoth, and wood. Rooted in the cultural memory of the Nenets Arctic, his work gives form to myth, ancestral knowledge, and the spiritual life of the North. His sculptures have been exhibited at the National Gallery of Canada, the Queens Museum in New York, and the New Bedford Art Museum, as well as at venues across Europe. (From the artists’ website.)
I listen to the material before I touch it. Bone and wood carry memory — of the animal, of the land, of the hands that held them before mine. I do not impose a form; I follow what is already there.
I was raised at the edge of the Arctic, in a world where the visible and the invisible were never separate. Spirits, ancestors, the shaman’s drum — these were not stories but neighbours. My sculpture is an attempt to keep that world present: each figure a guardian, each line a thread between past and future.
A finished work does not belong to me. It belongs to whoever stands before it and recognises something they had forgotten.
Inna Iadne is also a master carver working in bone. She works with her husband and independently, creating miniature sculptures, traditional accessories, and jewelry. She also makes traditional clothing and does bead work.
They will talk about their work and will include a few pieces available for purchase in their presentation. You can see some of their work on their website and at Of the Earth Connections.
Inuit Art Society Members will receive a link to the presentation.
Not a member? Contact us at to join us as a guest for this special presentation.