Luke Airut began carving in 1967 to earn extra money. He learned about carving stone and whalebone from his father, George Kappianaq, and Igloolik artist Pacome Kolaut. Airut prefers to work with stone because it allows him to use his imagination. In addition to carving he has also made tools and jewellery for sale. Airut's interest in jewellery making and working with silver, copper and other metals was fostered by a six month course he attended at Arctic College in Iqaluit. His wife, Marie Airut, is a crafts artist.

Exhibitions

• A Preference for Bone, The Innuit Gallery of Eskimo Art
• Contemporary Sculpture from Igloolik, Pucker/Safrai Gallery
• Echoes of the Drum, Gallery of the Arctic
• Eskimo Sculpture in Ivory and Whalebone, Waddington Galleries
• Festival of Birds, The Arctic Circle
• Granville Island Canadian Inuit Sculpture Exhibition (first exhibition), Vancouver Inuit Art Society
• Granville Island Canadian Inuit Sculpture Exhibition (second exhibition), Vancouver Inuit Art Society
• Hand Crafted Jewellery by the Graduating Students in the Jewellery/Metalwork Certificate Program at Arctic College, Iqaluit Fine Arts Gallery Ltd.
• Igloolik - Recent Sculpture, Gallery of the Arctic
• Images of the Far North, Arctic Artistry (held at the Erie County Fairgrounds)
• Inuit Art on the Mezzanine: New Acquisitions, Winnipeg Art Gallery
• Inuit Arts and Crafts at Expo '86, C.N.E. Expo
• Keeping Our Stories Alive: An Exhibition of the Art and Crafts from Dene and Inuit of Canada, Institute of American Indian Arts Museum
• Multiple Realities: Inuit Images of Shamanic Transformation, Winnipeg Art Gallery
• Mythic Image, Ancestral Spirits Gallery
• Sojourns to Nunavut: Contemporary Inuit Art from Canada, at Bunkamura Art Gallery, presented by the University of British Columbia Museum of Anthropology and The McMichael Canadian Art Collection
• Spirit of the Birds, Gallery of the Arctic
• Takamit - Canadian Eskimo Art: Selections from Private Collections and the Government of Canada, Organized by La Federation des Cooperatives du Nouveau-Quebec and the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University
• Through the Eyes of the Shaman, Arctic Artistry
• Uumajut: Animal Imagery in Inuit Art, Winnipeg Art Gallery

Collections

• Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
• Eskimo Museum, Churchill
• Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, Yellowknife
• Sarick Collection, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
• University of Alberta, Edmonton
• Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg