#4 • 16' x 10' Tall James Havens "Cook Inlet Beluga" Original Oil Mural

Part of December 2024 Premier Auction (live auction by Alaska Premier Auctions & Appraisals)

High bid $2,600.00

Status: Sold

Category: Art: Alaskan Originals

A stunning original oil painting mural on canvas by Alaska artist James Havens (b.1968) for the Cook Inlet Beluga 2023 project. The piece features Alaska’s critically endangered Beluga Whales of Cook Inlet Alaska and the location featured within the painting is the important archeological Beluga point site located on Cook Inlet’s Turnagain Arm. The Beluga Point site, the rocky promontory, was an important gathering place for local indigenous peoples to scan and hunt the beluga whales of which was traditionally done for thousands of years. Artifacts discovered there are 8,000 - 10,000 years old and believed to be evidence of the oldest habitation in Anchorage municipality. The painting portrays a family group of Cook Inlet Beluga Whales (the juvenile is gray in color) at high tide in the silty waters pursuing the silver salmon on their way to the glacial streams of the Chugach National Forest. Artist James Havens created the painting as a public educational outreach tool and partnered with NOAA Fisheries Alaska to help raise awareness to the plight of Alaska’s Cook Inlet Beluga Whales. Includes a Certificate of Authenticity signed by the artist, listing the current market value at $35,000. Measures approximately 16' x 10' tall.