Juneau, Alaska

I was born and raised here in downtown Juneau. It was at the Wiemer Gallery where I met Simon Koonook, an Inupiaq Eskimo from Point Hope, Alaska. Simon taught me the art of soapstone sculpture where I apprenticed with him for three and a half years. Since my apprenticeship, I have studied the art of stone carving in alabaster, serpentine, pipestone, and marble. I have always said that sculpture picked me... I never thought I would be a stone sculptor.

When I was growing up, I used to draw alot... so much so that I repeated third grade. I went through different phases of drawing. My first subjects were of battlefields from the Civil War to World War II. I use to draw different famous battles such as the 'Battle of Gettysburg', to 'Normandy'. Then it switched to drawing navy ships. I used to draw all the famous battleships from all over the world, but my favorite was the U.S.S. Missouri. Then later I would draw plants and trees... and soon I would do Alaska outdoor scenery. Then finally I started to draw Alaskan animals. I did pencil, pen & ink, wood block, acylic and oil paintings.

In seventh grade I carved a Northwest Coast cedar panel of a 'sea monster'. I carved several panels of different NW Coast designs... but my favorite was a Tlingit design of an eagle. I really loved carving wood, but I really didn't know too much about wood carving. I should have carved with my uncle Leo Jacobs Sr., who was a master totem carver... but I was young. I did sell all my wood carvings to people from church and school. Soon girls and music took my interest and I drifted away from it. Later in middle school I fell in love with photography and learned to develop black & white film, then color, and then finally color slides. I took up graphic arts in high school, and our department did all the graphics for our high school. Later on I moved to San Francisco and did graphic design using Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, and Adobe Pagemaker, using a Macintosh. I worked for several firms in SF, but my favorite job was doing graphics at Arthur Court Designs in SOMA. My specialty was doing catalogs. I did business graphics for Bain & Company in SF, a management consultanting firm.

After a couple of years of doing graphics, I moved back to Juneau, and looked for a job doing graphic design. Juneau is small and there was very little work available in graphics. I happen to walk in the Wiemer Gallery and there inside was my art teacher from high school... Arnie Wiemer. Working with Arnie was Simon Koonook, an outgoing and happy eskimo carver from Point Hope. I started carving with Simon and made some seal sculptures. My first sculptures used to take me all day to complete. My job hunting was depressing, so at some point I would end up at the Wiemer Gallery. I carved everyday, and Simon Koonook was happy to teach me. Each sculpture I carved would sell. Simon would talk some tourist into buying it. He would say, "look at my students work, isn't it good." At the end of that summer, I asked Simon if I could apprentice with him. He said that he was hoping I would ask him to study with him. It took a long time to feel like a sculptor, because I was such a slow learner, but Simon was patient with me. We both loved our own native culture... and we both loved each others native traditions. He would tell many Inupiaq stories and personal stories of Point Hope. I shared with him my Tlingit stories and traditions which he loved very much. Juneau was often too warm for him so we had many walks along the Juneau waterfront to cool off, especially when the temperture reached the seventies. Work would come to a halt when it was warm, he would say "Sonny, lets walk along the waterfront." We would talk about life, girls, Alaska, but mostly we talked about art... stone sculptures from cultures all over the world.

In 1996 after I returned from Italy, I told Simon that I saw the 'David' in Florence. He was so happy to hear about my experiences in Europe. It was then that we agreed to do a trip together to Italy, to see the works of Michelangelo in Florence. But later in the fall, Simon drowned in an accident. It was a terrible lost to me. I think of him often when I carve stone, or even when I look at sculptures. We used to stroll in downtown Juneau and look at sculptures in the many galleries along Franklin Street. Today I am quite fast at carving stone, but I know that Simon was still faster than me. Simon had alot of high hopes for me... as an artist, even when I felt like my work sucked! I often wrestled with insecurities with myself and my work... but I just remember Simon's laugh and his words of encouragement. It took me a long time to see what Simon saw in me, and today my work is still influence by Simon's joyful view of life. I love all forms of art, but I especially love sculpture... and I can finally say today, "I am a sculptor."