Bristol Sanatu Lakshas is an Iñupiaq artist based in Woodinville, Washington, USA with cultural roots in Utqiaġvik (Barrow), Alaska. Professionally, Lakshas works as a technical artist designing visual effects and animation tools for video games and currently works as a VFX artist on Never Alone 2, an Iñupiat-inspired adventure video game. She also has a practice making mixed media sculpture using clay and found materials, sewing, crocheting and beading.
Lakshas has been creative for as long as she can remember. “I was the kid that would get in trouble for drawing in class,” she says. [1] She comes from an artistic family, inspired by sculptors Susie Bevins-Ericsen and Larry “Ulaaq” Ahvakana, her aunt and uncle on her taata’s side, and the arts of sewing, beadwork and fibre craft passed down on her aanaa’s side. This strong family influence ultimately led Lakshas to get a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts degree in Digital Art and Animation. She also takes inspiration from fantasy and animation which influence all of the art forms she works with, including cosplay costumes that she designs herself. “My first cosplay was Katara from Avatar,” Lakshas says. “She was the first [Inuit] representation I saw in animation.”
Lakshas’ day job working as a technical artist for video games has landed her name in the credits of games Techtonica (2023) and ARK: Survival Evolved (2021) for designing visual effects, including waterfalls and feathers. Her love for game design also stems from her interests in fantasy: “In game development, I’m able to do a lot of the things that I can’t do with physical objects, like magic,” she explains. “I can create beautiful magic effects that are inspired by the things that I love… they show up in ways that I cannot express in the real world.”
In her sewing and beading practices, Lakshas uses patterns passed down from her mother and aanaa who showed her how to make atikłuk / kuspuk garments. Her favourite parts of their designs are the qupak trim, tightly pin-tucked fabric and layered bias tape with little ribbons creating small, geometric patterns. Among Lakshas’ own designs is an Iñupiaq-inspired fantasy costume which includes an intricate beaded collar. “I like to say that Indigenous artisans are the original technical artists,” she says. “When you break it down, technical art is just math, or a pattern, with pretty colours. With a beaded rosette for example, you have to imagine something in your head, break down how many beads per row (BPR) and chart this information onto your canvas. Then, you divide your BPR by however many colours you want to add and repeat until you make something beautiful.” [2]
Looking to the future, Lakshas is interested in learning the art of Iñupiaq tattooing. She also hopes to continue mentoring other artists working in digital mediums, specifically women and people of colour. “It’s a really hard industry to get into,” she says. “So I want to pass on that knowledge.”