Congratulations to our third round of Access to Alaska Native Collections (AANC) grant recipients! Thank you to our wonderful panel for providing their time and expertise in reviewing all the applications. And thank you to our amazing funders—The CIRI Foundation and the Henry Luce Foundation! With their support, we were able to award fifteen grants to artists and artist groups.
The artists and culture bearers are visiting their chosen museums this year and we look forward to hearing how the visits went!
Steven Johnson (Tlingit) will visit the Alaska State Museum to study headdresses in the collection—specifically Shaaki.aat headdresses—to better understand their construction and replication. Working on headdresses has been a lifelong pursuit for Steven, and he enjoys sharing his knowledge through teaching. While there is no how-to book on how to create headdresses, it’s something Steven would like to work on in the future to record the knowledge that he has on headdresses and his innovations over the years. Seeing some of the older headdresses in the collection will allow Steven to compare older construction methods to the newer headdress construction methods.
Judith Ramos (Tlingit) will visit with the University of Alaska Museum of the North (UAMN) to view regalia, button robes, beaded collars, beaded belts, and Chilkat blankets in their collection. After beading off and on throughout her life, Judith began beading again during COVID, and hopes to gain inspiration from the traditional patterns in the UAMN collection. Between her own art and her work teaching Northwest Coast Art and History at UAS, she also hopes that the inspiration she gains from the visit will be shared with many.
Maka Monture (Tlingit, Filipina, and Kanien’kehá:ka ) will be visiting the Alaska State Museum and Sealaska Heritage Institute to look at formline design and Tlingit artifacts with her mentor and family in order to share knowledge together. Growing up, Maka didn’t have access to consistent learning spaces for Formline in her village, so much of her work is self-taught. She began practicing Tlingit Formline art as a teenager. Maka is currently focused on deepening her practice, understanding, regalia design, and approach to Formline. Her understanding of humanity was deeply influenced by traditional practices, including harvest, song and dance, language, ceremony, and genealogy. Maka’s creative work emerges from a place where storytelling meets a vision for radical abundance. She remains a lifelong student of Tlingit history and art.
DaNika Smalley (Naanya.aayí Lingít, with Tsimshian and Aleut ties) & Amber Wade (Naasteidí Lingít) will visit Sealaska Heritage Institute and the Alaska State Museum to learn from their collections and archives.
DaNika is a culture bearer, museum collections attendant, researcher, and herbalist. She plans to view the collections from the Wrangell area and neighbors like Petersburg to learn more about the tribes, clans, and traditions in the area.
Amber is a culture bearer, researcher and artist who creates many types of art, but specializes in weaving. She looks forward to viewing the collections from Wrangell and Petersburg, as well as the many Ravenstail designs, basketry, and formline designs in the collection to inspire her art.
Lou Logan (Inupiaq) will be visiting the Sheldon Jackson Museum to view traditional Inupiat skin-on-frame watercraft such as the qayaq (kayak) and umiak. Lou has been making kayaks since 2019, and currently has a solo live working exhibit at the Alaska State Museum in Juneau that involves building a qayaq right next to a historical example from the collection. While in Sitka, Lou will view several Inupiat kayaks in the collection that he would like to study—taking measurements and photos—to inspire his own work.
Kayley Delozier (Aleut) will be visiting the Anchorage Museum and the Alaska Native Heritage Center to gain inspiration from their traditional regalia collections. She began beading at a very young age, but really got into it after high school. She loves combining various mediums to express her cultural heritage. While visiting the museums, she is particularly interested in studying the traditional regalia on display, learning about the stitching techniques, beading styles, and their roles in aesthetics, spirituality, and practicality.
Olivia Huntington (Koyukon Athabascan) will be visiting the Alaska State Museum and Sealaska Heritage Instituteto learn more about traditional dressmaking techniques from the Southeast, particularly the intricate button work as well as new ways to incorporate quills into beadwork. Olivia is entirely self-taught, and over the years, she has expanded her craft to include parkas, slippers, and a variety of other garments. She’s eager to expand her knowledge in several areas, particularly in how different cultures incorporate animal parts into clothing design.
Sharon Kay (Aleut) and Kelly Kay (Aleut) will be visiting the Museum of the Aleutians – Unalaska to view their basket collection. Sharon is a basket weaver of the well-known, finely-woven Attu style baskets. She learned to weave over 30+ years ago when only a handful of Aleut weavers were doing the Attu style and she is now visiting museums in preparation for writing a book on Aleut Basketry. Sharon and her daughter, Kelly, plan on taking photographs, looking over each basket, and taking notes of unusual weaving, styles, and materials used.
Mary Goddard (Tlingit and Haida) will visit the Haines Sheldon Museum to view weapons and clothing in their collection. Mary is planning a show and wants to gain inspiration to create new pieces for that show. Mary also sees this visitation as an opportunity to honor her ancestors from Haines, to learn from the past, and to inspire future generations. Learn more about Mary’s work on Instagram at @alaskamary and Facebook at Mary Goddard-Artist.
Amber Webb (Yup’ik) will visit the Anchorage Museum to look at Yup’ik regalia for Yuraq (dance) and ceremony. She is specifically interested in looking at skin items like belts, headdresses, and parkas to help her better understand the technology. Amber’s visit will inform a research project on multigenerational systems of design and how you can connect to stories through the context of identity in the designs.
Skweit Jessie Morgan (Tlingit) will be visiting Sealaska Heritage Institute to find inspiration in silversmithing, especially from pieces by artists like Amos Wallace and Leo Jacobs, Jr. as well as from artifacts like bentwood boxes and bracelets. As an artist from Haines, practicing Northwest Coast Design, silversmithing, and beadwork, Skweit looks forward to connecting deeper with the excellence of their ancestors, studying Northern Tlingit design in bentwood boxes, and studying silver work like bracelets that are utilitarian or encompassing traditional use or design.
Jamie Foode (Sugpiaq) will visit the Museum of the Aleutians – Unalaska to compare Unangan art styles with those of Suqpiaq and gain inspiration from the collection. Jamie’s art aims to capture modern elements blended with traditional Sugpiaq (Alutiiq) materials to create unique garments and jewelry. She’s excited to visit the museum to see the many similarities in these art styles, because both cultures are closely located in terms of maritime travel. She particularly looks forward to comparing art styles on garments and everyday use items made of marine mammals, studying various stone lamps to identify and observe differences between utilitarian and ceremonial pieces while comparing their similarities to those of Sugpiaq origin, and observing pre-Russian contact art forms.
Victor Geffe (Inupiaq) will visit the Alaska State Museum to view the whale bone masks and carvings in their collections. Victor used to carve in Kotzebue where he grew up, learning from the elders who were very encouraging, and started carving again in 2012. Today, he carves whale bone masks, vertebrate masks, walrus and wooly mammoth ivory, and baleens. He also works with polar bear and grizzly claws. Victor finds peace and purpose in his carvings and looks forward to gaining inspiration in the collections.
Joyce Roberts (Athabascan) will be visiting the Alaska State Museum to see the different patterns and styles of beading in their collection. Joyce has been beading off and on her entire life and now full time for eight years. She mostly creates moccasin boots and beaded regalia like dresses and vests, but she’s hoping to get inspiration from other types of beaded garments in the collection to expand her own work.
Donald Hotch (Tlingit/Haida) will be visiting the Alaska State Museum and Sealaska Heritage Institute to see pieces by Ed Kasko, Dan Katzeek, Avatuck and Edenshaw, as well as other engravings, wall screens, boxes, and blankets which translate perfectly into engraved bracelet designs. Donald would like to visit his deceased relatives’ art, Ed Kasko and Dan Katzeek, to revitalize their art with their families’ permission. These visits will provide him with inspiration and the chance to learn new designs for his engravings and wood carvings.