John Hoover (October 13, 1919 – September 3, 2011) was an American artist, known for his creation of contemporary art pieces based on Native Alaskan traditions. Hoover was born in Cordova to a Dutch father and an Aleut-Russian mother. He worked as a ski instructor and commercial fisherman, before taking up a career in art after designing and building a fishing boat in his backyard which he considered like a sculpture.Dunham, Mik
Alaska artist John Hoover dead at 91 in Washington
, ''Anchorage Daily News'', September 6, 2011. Hoover's work was exhibited internationally, and his artworks feature prominently in several Anchorage buildings such as the William A. Egan Civic and Convention Center, the

Alaska Native Medical Center The Alaska Native Medical Center (ANMC) is a non-profit health center based in Anchorage, Alaska, United States, which provides medical services to 158,000 Alaska Natives and other Native Americans in Alaska. It acts as both the secondary and ...

and the

Alaska Native Heritage Center The Alaska Native Heritage Center is an educational and cultural institution for all Alaskans, located in Anchorage, Alaska. The center opened in 1999. The Alaska Native Heritage Center shares the heritage of Alaska's 11 major cultural groups. T ...

. In 2002, he was honored with a retrospective of his work at the

Anchorage Museum The Anchorage Museum is a large art, history, ethnography, ecology and science museum located in a modern building in the heart of Anchorage, Alaska. It is dedicated to studying and exploring the land, peoples, art and history of Alaska. The mu ...

, and he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the

University of Alaska Anchorage The University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) is a public university in Anchorage, Alaska. UAA also administers four community campuses spread across Southcentral Alaska: Kenai Peninsula College, Kodiak College, Matanuska–Susitna College, and Prin ...

in May 2011.Revered Alaska Artist Passes Away at 91
Alaska Public Media, September 5, 2011. Hoover died at his home near Grapeview on the

Puget Sound Puget Sound ( ) is a sound of the Pacific Northwest, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean, and part of the Salish Sea. It is located along the northwestern coast of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected ma ...

Washington state Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...

on September 3, 2011, aged 91.

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John Hoover, Aleut
Quintana Galleries Indigenous Art 1919 births 2011 deaths Alaska Native people American people of Aleut descent American people of Dutch descent American people of Russian descent 20th-century American sculptors Artists from Alaska People from Cordova, Alaska 21st-century American sculptors Sculptors from Alaska {{US-sculptor-stub