Odin Lonning was born in Juneau,
Alaska in 1953. On his mother’s side, he is a
member of the Woosh-Ke-Taan (Eagle, Shark) clan of
the Tlingit Nation. On his father’s side, he is
Norwegian.
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Odin was inspired at an early age
by relatives and local artists such as Lincoln and
Amos Walace, Nathan Jackson, and Johnny Avatok,
and by the culture centers in Ketchikan, Haines,
and Sitka, Alaska. Some of his early works were
commissioned for permanent display by the Juneau
Centennial Committee, the Juneau School District,
and the Goldbelt and Sealaska Corporations.
In 1989 Odin attended the
Institute of American Indian Art in Santa Fe, New
Mexico. After completing his studies there and
teaming up with another artist, he began showing
in larger powwows, museums, and invitational
exhibits in Phoenix, Los Angeles, San Francisco,
Chicago, Tucson, Oklahoma City, Taos, and Santa
Fe.
Odin lives in Seattle, where he
is a student and teacher at the Spirit House
Northwest Indian Art School. Both he and Tlingit
drum maker Richard
Shupe perform in the Ku-Tee-Ya Alaska native
dance group.
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