ALASKA NATIVE FORMLINE BY EYAK TRIBAL ARTIST LIAM RIEDEL
Popular Prints
Rendered in Delirium was created while out to sea during the 2025 commercial fishing season. It show cases the artist’s anxieties and spiritual turbulence by focusing on complexity without it’s contemporary elements bending the rules of traditional formline. A bold moon set in front of a subtle aroura casts an ominous energy. Red hands laden with specters descend upon a man beset by spirit wolves. Their claws met by smaller wolf heads as the man transforms to become one with the wolves, their spirits related and now united. The stars reveal their own animism represented by hands to symbolize the light of all celestial bodies as having an effect, whether mild or profound.
A poem written by the artist accompanies the piece.
Rendered in delirium:
Claws rending red the spirits spin
Afflictions of the moon invite delirium
Wolves without become wolves within
Everting dread, manic yet still human
With tongues of spears, howls pierce the ears
Effectuating the fear with sanguine lumens
Protecting me with anxiety, ritually shedding my skin
We dance and laugh, shrieks and rasps, howling in the wind
Every copy is a 16 × 20 inch Giclée print using archival pigment inks on museum quality acid free paper. Exceptional detail, long lasting and durable. Each is a limited edition, signed and numbered 1-200.
The Moieties Within showcases the lovers, Eagle and Raven: the moieties that divide the clan structure of the DAXunhyuu (Eyak people) as well as other southeast Alaskan tribes. Every Eyak tribal member belongs to either the Eagle house or the Raven house with the artist belonging to the Raven house. This piece is integrated with human elements both spilling out and contained within showing that they share the same spirit that we as humans have. Possessed of complex thoughts, feelings and speech we represent each other as we navigate this natural world.
Every copy is an 11 × 14 inch Giclée print using archival pigment inks on museum quality acid free paper. Exceptional detail, long lasting and durable. Each is a limited edition, signed and numbered 1-200.
Two Wolves Moon exemplifies the artists relationship with wolves. The idea of Eyaks being related to wolves is mentioned in their mythology as well as a traditional cultural taboo against hunting them. Symmetrical and complex featuring two wolves under the moon with the center ovoid housing another wolf head instead of the traditional human face. The human element is shown inverted in the stomach of the of the beast as the artist often feels his own humanity at risk of being digested by the spirit of his animal.
A poem written by the artist accompanies the piece.
Two Wolves Moon:
An internal primality, an inverted humanity
Soul of a beast, proud with lucidity
Hungry for thoughts, hungry for feeling
A hunter of vivacity, Clarity in lunacy
Every copy is a 11 × 14 inch Giclée print using archival pigment inks on museum quality acid free paper. Exceptional detail, long lasting and durable. Each is a limited edition, signed and numbered 1-200.
The Fall is a beautiful blending of traditional and contemporary formline. It depicts the drama of our chief deity Raven, shown in his human form, falling into a whirlpool. A handsome and charismatic trickster who often falls victim to his own schemes, Raven was exiled from a village from which he had stolen food from leading to his idling curiosity getting the better of him.
"Raven journeyed to the edge of the world. There is a hole there where the tide rushes in and out. Raven got too close and fell in. He is always sticking his nose where it doesn't belong"
- Eyak legends Raven cycle
Every copy is a 11 × 14 inch Giclée print using archival pigment inks on museum quality acid free paper. Exceptional detail, long lasting and durable. Each is a limited edition, signed and numbered 1-200.
