November
2004
Arts
of Alaska
 
The
Highlight of the Month program at The Indian Craft Shop focuses on a particular craft area, region
or artist family/group. Our aim is to illustrate the
diversity of tribal groups and the wide variety of artistic
expressions and traditions in the country today.
 The
arts from Alaska include a great variety of
traditional and contemporary works, often reflecting
the rich Alaskan Native cultures. Many of the arts have
origins in tradition and function, made from materials
of a subsistence lifestyle and of those indigenous to
the different areas of Alaska. The vast region of Alaska
includes several distinct cultural groups. The Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian are
in the southeast with heavily forested lands, glacier-carved
fjords and bays. The Aleut and Alutiiq are
in the southwest from Prince William Sound to the Aleutian
Islands. The Yup’ik and Inupiat,
historically known as the Eskimo, are located from Bristol
Bay through the tundra of the northern Arctic to the
Canadian border. The Athabascan are located from the
interior of Alaska to the Canadian border.
 
Carving
of walrus tusk ivory and whalebone is a livelihood for
many Yup’ik and Inupiat artists who transform these
materials into a variety of expressive figures. Walrus,
seal, polar bears and arctic whales are favorite subjects,
along with birds, otters, wooly mammoths, wolves and moose.
Also depicted are spirit dancers and hunters waiting at
seal breathing holes, in kayaks or driving a dog sled.
Some include both human and animal elements, depicting
the sharing of the spirit and reliance on the hunt. Fossilized
ivory is also used, colors ranging from honey brown to
deep gray, depending on how long buried and the soil it
was found in. Whalebone provides a dramatic medium for
carvings of dancers, large figures and masks often inlaid
with ivory and baleen. Whalebone, from several decades
to centuries old, is gathered during the summer months.
Baskets
are made from a wide variety of materials. Baleen, the
filtration plates from the toothless whale species, is
fashioned into single rod baskets by some Inupiat artists.
Using very strong hands, the artist uses an ivory basket
start at the base and an ivory finial on the lid. Birch
bark containers and coiled grass baskets with dyed seal
gut are a specialty of many Athabascan makers. Twining
and plaiting are common basketry techniques among groups
of southern Alaska where a variety of grasses and split
woods and barks, including cedar and spruce root, are formed
into utilitarian and decorative containers, woven hats
and accessories.
Bold
totems and carvings are reflective of the southeastern
groups of Alaska. Artists create wood totems, masks, panels,
paddles and other carvings, often made of alder and cedar,
with some contemporary artists using exotic woods. Totem
poles have a long history in Alaska and full sized poles
are still made at entrances to homes, businesses and land
areas, and for commemorations. The carvings often include
family crests such as the Raven and the Eagle and may also
be based on ceremonies, hunts or stories.
 There
are a great variety of other crafts and arts of Alaska.
Dolls, universally made and used as teaching tools and
playing objects, are made out of various skins, woods and
furs. Eskimo Yo-Yos challenge and entertain all ages, and
sealskin thimbles are prized by seamstresses for their
flexibility and protection. Textiles include the complicated
woven Chilkat blankets, with designs containing abstract
crests and story figures, and worn as robes, aprons, tunics
and leggings. Button blankets, with similar designs done
in appliqué, are also made for use in dance and
ceremony. From the far north there are graceful woven dance
fans trimmed with polar bear fur, and hand held walrus
stomach drums used for storytelling, dances and songs.
Masks of a great variety are made, some with histories
of use in ceremonies, in telling stories or playing games,
and others that are representative of a food chain or spirit
of a hunt. Jewelry is made of many materials, which include
ivory, argillite, wood, sterling silver and gold, typically
with designs reflective of the artist’s culture area.
Beadwork, most common among Athabascan makers, often includes
floral patterns in bright colors, with hides such as moose
and caribou used as the wearable canvas.
The
arts of Alaska capture the spirit of the North and reflect
a great diversity of cultures that live close to the land
and the ocean. Elements of the culture and traditions are
reflected in much of the work today, whether made for function,
art, or both. There are no limitations in art, and today
artists express their talents in many areas, including
blown glass, sculpture and paintings, continuing to add
to the great variety of arts from Alaska.
Indian
Craft Shop
1849 C Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20240
(202) 208-4056
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