John Hoover (October 13, 1919 – September 3, 2011) was an American artist, known for his creation of contemporary art pieces based on Native Alaskan traditions. Hoover was born in Cordova to a Dutch father and an Aleut-Russian mother. He worked as a ski instructor and commercial fisherman, before taking up a career in art after designing and building a fishing boat in his backyard which he considered like a sculpture. In 2002, he was honored with a retrospective of his work at the Anchorage Museum, and he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Alaska Anchorage in May 2011.