Mystery Artist 52 – E. Okleasik artist mark on Walrus Tusk

Mystery Artist 52 E. Okleasik on walrus tusk

From Alaska comes a nice clean walrus tusk scrimshawed in the late 1980’s to early 1990 depicting a fishing trawler with a leaping fish. Nicely done, wonderful balance of scrimshaw to ivory, not heavily detailed or shaded. The signature is E.Okleasik and was given to the owner’s grandfather from a gentleman that moved to Alaska in the 1950’s.

Mystery Artist 52 - closer view of the scrimshaw depicting a leaping fish and a trawler in the background.

The owners would love to know more about the artist, and are curious if it is real ivory, which I believe it is by the looks of the crazing and the ink working its way underneath the cracks. The base is sealed, but you can see the scribe lines of the scrimshaw near it, definitely not molded.

Signature under the trawler “E. Okleasik”

Does anyone know the artist E. Okleasik or have any information on them? Write your comments below, we’d love to see more of their work.