<p>Learning life skills, and the values that underpin them, is important for children and teenagers in order to become self-sufficient, well-balanced adults. Alaska Native games engage youth to learn and improve life skills through fun activities, and contribute to good health through building physical strength and endurance, concentration and memory. This lab provides materials for students to learn about traditional Alaska Native games and can try their hand at one or more. Photographs and museum objects connect Alaska Native games played in the past to today, as children to adults. Essays and Elders’ discussions allow students to learn directly from community members. Questions and activities in the education unit help students understand and apply what they have read, and find shared cultural values in their own lives.</p> <p>Contributor: <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/profile/78098">Dawn Biddison</a></p> <hr> <p>Tags: Alaska, Alaska Native, Indigenous, Yup’ik, Iñupiaq, <em>Yaaruin, </em>storytelling<em>,</em> activity, museum, museum objects, artifacts, Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center in Alaska, distance learning, culturally responsive, culturally-responsive, socio-emotional learning; skill-building, empathy, life skills, game-based learning (#arcticstudies)</p>

<p>Red cedar bark twined basketry is a distinctive Tsimshian art form. With the passing on of elder master artists and the demands of contemporary lifestyles, it became at risk. A handful of weavers today are working to master and revitalize twined cedarbark basketry, reconnecting with a proud heritage. In 2016, the Arctic Studies Center collaborated with The Haayk Foundation of Metlakatla to document the materials and techniques of cedarbark basketry. The project included a harvesting and processing workshop and a weaving workshop in Metlakatla, and a residency at the Arctic Studies Center in Anchorage where artists studied baskets from museum and private collections, practiced and refined weaving techniques, and taught museum visitors and school children about basketry.</p> <p>Teaching was led by Haida master weaver Delores Churchill, who learned from master Tsimshian weaver Flora Mather, with assistance from her daughter Holly Churchill, an accomplished weaver. In addition to Metlakatla students, three advanced Tsimshian weavers participated in the project, sharing techniques learned in their families and communities and learning new ones: Kandi McGilton (co-founder of The Haayk Foundation), Karla Booth (granddaughter of Tsimshian master weaver Violet Booth) and Annette Topham (niece of master Tsimshian weaver Lillian Buchert). Metlakatla elder Sarah Booth, a fluent speaker of Sm’algyax (Ts’msyen), assisted Kandi McGilton in documenting indigenous basketry terminology for use in language classes.</p> <p>The Sm’algyax and English bilingual guide below was written and compiled by Kandi McGilton, in collaboration with Sarah Booth and with assistance from David R. Boxley and Theresa Lowther. The guide pairs with a set of 15 instructional videos included here. The guide provides step-by-step details about cedarbark basketry from harvesting materials to twining techniques in Sm’algya̱x (the Tsimshian language) and English. A twined cedarbark basket from the Smithsonian collections is also included below.<strong><br></strong></p> <p>Contributor: <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/profile/78098">Dawn Biddison</a></p> <hr> <p><strong>Tags: </strong>Alaska, Native art, museum, education, Indigenous, Tsimshian, cedar, bark, Metlakatla, weaving, basket, David Boxley, Kandi McGilton, Delores Churchill, Karla Booth, Annette Topham, Holly Churchill, Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center in Alaska, distance learning, culturally responsive, culturally-responsive (#arcticstudies)</p>

<p>By Rosita Worl (Tlingit), 2009<br></p> <p><strong>Sea, Land, Rivers</strong></p> <p><em>Lingít haa sateeyí</em>, "we who are Tlingit," have owned and occupied southeast Alaska since time immemorial. When we say <em>haa aaní</em>, “our land,” we are speaking from the heart. Those words mean ownership, which we have had to defend through history. They mean identity, because this is our homeland. They mean the nourishment of body and spirit provided by bountiful rain forests, coasts and rivers. This land and its gifts have sustained us for hundreds of generations.</p> <p>We believe that animals are our ancestors. Each matrilineal clan has its ancient progenitors. I am an Eagle from the Thunderbird clan, of the House Lowered from the Sun in Klukwan. I am proud to be a child of the <em>Lukaa<u>x</u>.ádi</em>, or Sockeye, my father’s clan. The history of our lineages is portrayed by images of ancestral animals and by origin stories, ceremonial regalia, dances, songs and names. These things represent <em>at.óow</em>, or “crest” beings, to which each clan has exclusive rights. Mountains, glaciers and other places on the land are also <em>at.óow</em>, because they are linked to incidents in the birth of our people. For a Tlingit person <em>at.óow</em> embody history, ancestry, geography, social being and sacred connection. They symbolize who we are.</p> <p>The Tlingit homeland extends from Icy Bay in the north to Prince of Wales Island in the south, some four hundred miles along Alaska’s panhandle. The population is about ten thousand, distributed among a dozen villages, cities and towns. The ocean spreads out before us, with a maze of wooded islands, fjords and channels that Tlingit seafarers historically traveled in cedar-trunk canoes. Behind us are high glaciated mountain ranges that extend inland from the coast.</p> <p>Fish, especially salmon, is the most important and bountiful resource in the Tlingit region. Harvested in summer and fall and preserved by smoking and drying, it allowed the historical population to grow large, to live in permanent winter villages and to produce surpluses for trade. It is still the year-round staple of our diet. The winter is long, and we look forward to spring and to herring eggs. We pick spring greens as they come up. Through the summer people gather berries and put them away. Summer is the season for hunting seals, which are important both for meat and for their fat. Nutritionists note the exceptional quality of our traditional diet, which includes omega-3 fatty acids found in salmon, cancer-preventing antioxidants in blueberries, and the rich vitamins and proteins of wild meats and fish. We’ve always enjoyed the health benefits and superb tastes of those foods.</p> <p><strong>Community and Family</strong></p> <p>Tlingit are divided into opposing and complementary halves, Eagle and Raven, which are called moieties. Each moiety is composed of large extended families that we identify as clans. The clans, in turn, are divided into tribal houses. In the present day, many Tlingit people introduce themselves to others first by personal name and moiety—Eagle or Raven—and then by clan name and house. We inherit clan membership from our mothers but call ourselves the “children” of our father’s clan. In the past, children lived in the house of their father. But when a boy reached the age of ten, he went to live with his mother’s brother, who assumed responsibility for the schooling of his young nephew. A girl remained in her father’s clan house until she married.</p> <p>Although locally organized by village and clan, our region was never politically unified until coming into conflict with the West. When the Treaty of Cession was signed in 1867 our great-grandparents were astonished to learn that Russia had purported to sell Alaska, including our aboriginal lands, to the United States. Tribal leaders sent a lawyer to Washington to tell the government, “If you want to buy Alaska, then buy it from us, its rightful owners.” The struggle for our land continued for more than a century. The Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Tribes, established during World War II, litigated for thirty years to reach a financial settlement over tribal property taken by the U.S. federal government to create the Tongass National Forest. In 1968, the Tlingit and other groups unified under the Alaska Federation of Natives to pursue both state and federal claims.</p> <p>The Tlingit people, like all Alaska Natives, endured a long, hard fight for their civil rights. We were denied U.S. citizenship until 1922 and experienced decades of overt discrimination and segregation. Alaska’s own “Jim Crow” laws excluded us from stores, jobs, schools and public buildings. In 1945, the Alaska Native Brotherhood and Alaska Native Sisterhood, based in southeast Alaska, finally won the repeal of discriminatory laws by the state legislature. To earn his Certificate of Citizenship, my grandfather had to pass an English-language and civics test administered by white schoolteachers and then have his application approved by a judge. To practice his rights as a citizen, including the right to vote, he was forced to show that he had given up his Native language and culture to lead a “civilized” life.</p> <p>When he was dying my grandfather called me to his bedside. I was fourteen years old. He said, “I want you to build a fire in the clan house.” What he was saying is that my generation had to rekindle the fire of our culture and language. That became our responsibility. We have worked hard to help restore cultural knowledge, practice, pride and fluency among our people. We have had substantial success, as witnessed by the huge public expression of our cultures that takes place every other year during the regional Celebration gathering. Progress has been made with the Tlingit language as well, although I don’t know that we’ll ever speak it the way our ancestors did. I will tell you, though, that the voices of our ancestors will always be heard in our land. And our core cultural values will be maintained.</p> <p><strong>Ceremony and Celebration</strong></p> <p>One of our strongest values is the maintenance of social and spiritual balance between Eagle and Raven clans to ensure the well-being of society. In addition, we have spiritual obligations to ancestors and future generations, a concept of cultural perpetuation called <em>haa shagoon</em>. These traditional beliefs form the basis of ceremonies called <em><u>k</u>u.éex’</em> or potlatch in English. The most significant <em><u>k</u>u.éex’</em> ceremonies are memorials to those who have passed away. When someone of an Eagle clan dies, members of Raven clans come to assist the grieving relatives. They bring food, contribute to the funeral expenses and sit with the body through the night.</p> <p>A year after the death the Eagle clan hosts a <em><u>k</u>u.éex’</em> for the Ravens, who come as guests. The hosts display their clan treasures, or <em>at.óow</em>. In this context, the word <em>at.óow</em> refers to works of traditional art that bear the images of crest beings. They include Chilkat blankets woven from dyed mountain sheep wool, button blankets, headdresses, carved and painted boxes, masks and drums. Clan ownership of these crest objects is revalidated by their presentation in the memorial ceremony, accompanied by a recounting of their histories and the origin stories of the crests themselves. Balance is maintained through the response of the Raven clans by presenting their own <em>at.óow</em>. The Eagle clan repays the Ravens, who came to the Eagles’ assistance, by distributing gifts and acknowledging them in oratory and song.</p> <p>At a memorial <em>ku.éex’</em> we name and honor the deceased person, our ancestors and others in the clan who have recently died. We feed these ancestors and departed relatives with their favorite foods, perhaps smoked cockles, gumboots (chitons) or deer meat. We transfer the food to the spirit world by fire or by giving it to the opposite side to eat.</p> <p>If the person who died was a clan leader, his successor is named and assumes office at the time of the memorial ceremony. Therefore, a <em>ku.éex’</em> has multiple functions: repaying the opposite moiety and reuniting with them, fulfilling spiritual obligations, and conducting legal and political affairs. This institution, which remains so vital and important in our contemporary lives, is far more complex than a stereotypical understanding of the word potlatch might imply.</p> <p>Note: This is shortened version of a longer essay from the Smithsonian book <em>Living Our Cultures, Sharing Our Heritage: The First Peoples of Alaska</em>.</p> <hr> <p>Tags: Tlingit, Alaska Native, Indigenous, Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center in Alaska (#arcticstudies)</p> <p></p>

<p>By <em>Paapi</em> Merlin Koonooka (St. Lawrence Island Yupik), 2009<br></p> <p><strong>Sea, Land, Rivers</strong></p> <p><em>Sivuqaq</em>, the Yupik name for St. Lawrence Island, rises out of the Bering Sea in the heart of a vast and bountiful marine ecosystem. All around us, depending on the time of year, we have walrus, whales and seals. Standing on the point at Gambell, you can watch ducks and seabirds flying by in endless motion over the sea. Our island lies just below the Arctic Circle, so the winters are long and often extreme. The wind gusts at fifty miles per hour, and the wind chill can get to minus fifty degrees Fahrenheit or lower. When spring and summer bring longer daylight and new life, people travel out from the villages of Gambell and Savoonga to their hunting and fishing camps around the island. Many of those places are ancient settlements where our ancestors lived up to two thousand years ago.</p> <p>I was born and raised in Gambell and have been a subsistence hunter there for my entire life, going back to when we traveled with dog teams instead of on snow machines and all-terrain vehicles. Marine mammals, fish, birds, eggs, reindeer and wild plants are important in the island diet throughout the year, far more so than store-bought foods. On the tundra and mountainsides people gather <em>ququngaq</em> (willow leaf), <em>nunivak</em> (roseroot), <em>angukaq</em> (dwarf fireweed) and various edible roots. In late summer the <em>aqavzik</em> (cloudberry) and <em>pagunghaq</em> (crowberry) ripen.</p> <p>Walrus have always been essential to our way of life. We hunt them in open water and later on the frozen ocean, making use of nearly everything as either food or material. The meat and fat are bundled into large <em>tuugtuq</em> (meatballs) to store in underground food cellars, and in the past that meat sustained our dog teams as well. Good-quality hides of female walrus are stretched, split, cured and stitched to cover the <em>angyapik</em> (hunting boat). Walrus stomachs become heads for drums, and their intestines, ivory and whiskers are transformed into adornment and art. Our predecessors used the skins to make tough rope and covers for the <em>nenglu</em> (traditional house) and interior <em>aargha</em> (sleeping room). They spun walrus sinew into thread and carved the tusks into tools and sled runners.</p> <p>I am a whaling captain like my grandfather, granduncles and father before me, and I serve on the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission. Traditionally, the captain prepared for whaling in a religious way, using charms, special songs and rituals that showed the great respect we feel for this animal. While these rituals are no longer practiced, strict hunting protocols and the responsibility of the captain remain unchanged. A bowhead whale is so immense and powerful that hunters, even though armed with modern weapons, are really at its mercy. We use skin-covered boats and sails rather than motors during the approach, keeping absolute silence, because whales have a very sharp sense of hearing. But they know we are there even if there is no sound. That is why we say that a whale decides to let itself be taken, not the other way around. One whale provides an abundance of food that is shared with families on the island and across Alaska.</p> <p>Our hunting lifestyle has never been harmful to the animal species. Nature has her own way of opening up the ice and sea for us or withholding access. During storms we have to stay at home and wait for a change. When the weather is nice, the conditions may still not be right for going out, even if walrus are floating by on top of the ice floes. Sometimes we will be punished this way if we’ve failed in our respect. But as long as the creatures make themselves available to us, we will gather them for food and traditional needs.</p> <p><strong><br></strong></p> <p><strong>Community and Family</strong><br></p> <p>The people of the island have close ties to the Yupik communities of Ungaziq and Sireniki on the Siberian coast, and we speak dialects of the same language. Before the cold war began in the late 1940s, our families traveled back and forth to visit, trade and seek marriage partners. The forty-mile trip took a full day in a skin boat using sail and paddles. Visits resumed in the 1980s after glasnost took hold in Russia, and now with a fast powerboat and calm seas, the crossing takes only two or three hours.</p> <p>Some of my best memories from childhood are of traveling with my dad. He had a wonderful dog team, and in the wintertime we would go on the sled to trap white fox. Even in the summer we’d take it across the gravel and tundra. When I started raising a family I did the same thing. We would hitch up a team of twelve dogs to pull our heavy sled, which was nine feet long with steel runners. As a child you really look forward to going out with your parents and elders for food gathering and hunting, because you want to learn.</p> <p>I sometimes think of early days when everyone was living in <em>nenglut</em> (traditional houses). They would go seal hunting on the ice, pulling whale baleen toboggans behind them to bring back the meat. You had a backpack and a rifle slung over your shoulders and an ice tester to see where it was safe to walk. You had to observe the ice and the direction it was moving, making sure not to get caught on an outgoing current. Boys were doing all that by the age of ten or twelve, and by fifteen you had to know everything. Your parents and elders made sure you were ready, or you weren’t allowed to go alone.</p> <p>Our culture is changing rapidly in some ways, more slowly in others. Fluency in the Yupik language is declining in the younger generations, although among the older people our daily conversation continues to be in Yupik. There is less respect among some young people now for their parents and elders, too much television and video gaming, problems with drugs and alcohol. We need to find a balance between traditional and modern ways, and I believe the best way to do that is through education. If you can be successful in your formal education, you will be in a strong position to help preserve your Yupik heritage. I’m glad to see so many young people still going out with their families to the places where we have always hunted and fished, even if now they travel on machines instead of on foot or by dog sled. They are still eating the same foods that we have always gathered and staying connected to our land and way of life.</p> <p>  </p> <p><strong>Ceremony and Celebration</strong> </p> <p>The remoteness of the island has helped to sustain some of the ways of our forebears. The practices of <em>atuq</em> and <em>aghula</em> (Yupik drumming, singing and dancing) were never interrupted, despite the introduction of Christianity, and people continue to compose new songs and motions. Both communities on the island hold dance celebrations where we welcome visitors and performers from mainland Alaska, Russia and beyond. Other ceremonies are more family-oriented, marking life events such as marriage and the birth and naming of a child. When a young person catches his first seal, a special small celebration is held to share the catch with relatives, making sure that everyone gets a taste. The same thing happens with your first bird.</p> <p>Many of the former ceremonial practices pertained to hunting, especially whaling. To prepare for the season, a captain would use certain songs that were specific to each clan. The purpose was to please the whale spirits. When the hunters captured a whale, the boats would come back in a line with the successful captain and crew in front. Everyone was deeply thankful, and they celebrated by feasting, singing and dancing. That feeling of appreciation and gratitude for the food that has been provided is just as strong today, even though our beliefs and customs have been modified.</p> <p>The Yupik culture has a very long, rich history, and at the Smithsonian you will see artifacts that our ancestors created hundreds or even thousands of years ago. Today many of the island’s residents are world-renowned Native artists whose work is shown in national and international museums and art galleries. Some of the ivory they use comes from archaeological sites, and this material, crucial to sustaining life generations ago, is equally important today because of the income generated by art sales. But much more than that, their work is a celebration of our culture, heritage and continuing way of life.</p> <p> Note: This is shortened version of a longer essay from the Smithsonian book <em>Living Our Cultures, Sharing Our Heritage: The First Peoples of Alaska</em>.</p> <hr> <p>Tags: St. Lawrence Island Yupik, Yupik, Alaska Native, Indigenous, Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center in Alaska (#arcticstudies)</p>

<p>Join Moderator Nadia Jackinsky-Sethi and speakers Miqqusaaq Bernadette Dean, Keneggnarkayaaggaq Emily Edenshaw, Kunaq Marjorie Tahbone and Krista Ulujuk Zawadski for a conversation about intergenerational learning within Canadian and Alaska Inuit communities and programs. Heather Campbell from the Inuit Art Foundation introduces the event.</p> <p>The video series "Conversations" brings you into discussions with Indigenous peoples, providing information and insights on important subjects and issues, along with ideas and examples that can help prepare you for making choices about how to act with regard to Indigenous peoples and their heritage.</p> <p>Our Inuit advisors for the project are:</p> <ul><li>Kacey Purruq Qunmiġu Hopson, Indigenous Knowledge Advocate, First Alaskans Institute</li><li>Sonya Kelliher-Combs, Artist</li><li>Taqralik Partridge, Director, Nordic Lab at SAW</li><li>Krista Ulujuk Zawadski, PhD Candidate, Carleton University</li></ul> <p>This event was made possible through generous support of the Inuit Art Foundation and supporters of the Arctic Studies Center in Alaska. (#arcticstudies)<br></p> <p>Contributor: <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/profile/78098">Dawn Biddison</a></p> <p>Source: <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/search?f%5B%5D%5Btypes%5D=resource&st=Smithsonian%20Arctic%20Studies%20Center%20Alaska">Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center in Alaska</a></p>

<p>Join Moderator Emily Henderson and speakers Theresie Tungilik and Dalee Sambo Dorough for a conversation about activating to Inuit art sovereignty. Alyson Hardwick from the Inuit Art Foundation introduces the event.</p> <p>The video series "Conversations" brings you into discussions with Indigenous peoples, providing information and insights on important subjects and issues, along with ideas and examples that can help prepare you for making choices about how to act with regard to Indigenous peoples and their heritage.</p> <p>Our Inuit advisors for the project are:</p> <ul><li>Kacey Purruq Qunmiġu Hopson, Indigenous Knowledge Advocate, First Alaskans Institute</li><li>Sonya Kelliher-Combs, Artist</li><li>Taqralik Partridge, Director, Nordic Lab at SAW</li><li>Krista Ulujuk Zawadski, PhD Candidate, Carleton University</li></ul> <p>This event was made possible through generous support of the Inuit Art Foundation and supporters of the Arctic Studies Center in Alaska. (#arcticstudies)<br></p> <p>Contributor: <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/profile/78098">Dawn Biddison</a></p> <p>Source: <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/search?f%5B%5D%5Btypes%5D=resource&st=Smithsonian%20Arctic%20Studies%20Center%20Alaska">Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center in Alaska</a></p>

<p>Join featured speaker Melissa Shaginoff (Ahtna Athabascan and Paiute) to learn about a public action called land acknowledgement, which helps you recognize the Indigenous peoples whose traditional lands we stand upon. Speaking the words of a land acknowledgement creates a space of honoring, respecting and making visible the generations of Indigenous peoples that came before you. It is an expression of respect appropriate for gatherings at schools, organizations, institutions, businesses, conferences and communities, both where you live and where you travel to.<br></p> <p>The video series "Conversations" brings you into discussions with Indigenous peoples, providing information and insights on important subjects and issues, along with ideas and examples that can help prepare you for making choices about how to act with regard to Indigenous peoples and their heritage. (#arcticstudies)<br></p> <p>Contributor: <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/profile/78098">Dawn Biddison</a></p> <p>Source: <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/search?f%5B%5D%5Btypes%5D=resource&st=Smithsonian%20Arctic%20Studies%20Center%20Alaska">Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center in Alaska</a></p>

<p>Join moderator Melissa Shaginoff (Ahtna Athabascan, Paiute) and speakers Dimi Macheras (Dena’ina Athabascan), Vera Starbard (Tlingit, Dena’ina Athabascan) and Ilgavak (Peter) Williams (Yup’ik) for a conversation on the subject of cultural appreciation vs. cultural appropriation, as it relates to Alaska Natives and other Indigenous peoples. Dawn Biddison from the Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center Alaska introduces the event. </p> <p>The video series "Conversations" brings you into discussions with Indigenous peoples, providing information and insights on important subjects and issues, along with ideas and examples that can help prepare you for making choices about how to act with regard to Indigenous peoples and their heritage.</p> <p>This event was made possible through generous support by the Open Society University Network, Recovering Voices at Home program of Department of Anthropology at the National Museum of Natural History, and supporters of the Arctic Studies Center in Alaska. (#arcticstudies)</p> <p>Contributor: <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/profile/78098">Dawn Biddison</a></p> <p>Source: <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/search?f%5B%5D%5Btypes%5D=resource&st=Smithsonian%20Arctic%20Studies%20Center%20Alaska">Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center in Alaska</a></p>

<p>In 2021, the Alaska office of the Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center partnered with Tsimshian master artist John Hudson on the “Voices from Cedar: Digital Learning” project to help Alaska Native artists learn about Tsimshian, Tlingit and Haida whistles, an important art form that had been dormant. John worked with Museum Specialist Dawn Biddison (project manager and editor) to produce in-depth instructional videos on making whistles, teach virtual workshops and give a public webinar. </p> <p>The videos presented in this collection introduce the Southeast Alaska tradition of making wind instruments with a focus on whistles. John shares his in-depth knowledge, and he teaches about the materials, tools and techniques for making cedar whistles. The 12-part instructional set comes from footage shot in 2015 at two events organized by the Center: a week-long artists’ residency at the Anchorage Museum and a weekend workshop at the Totem Heritage Center in Ketchikan. Also included is an edited version of the webinar, a trouble-shooting video completed after the virtual workshops, and short videos with John discussing whistles he studied from the Natural Museum of Natural History collections.</p> <p>This project was made possible through the generous support of The CIRI Foundation, Smithsonian Institution’s Recovering Voices program, Alaska State Council on the Arts & National Endowment for the Arts, First National Bank of Alaska, Sealaska Heritage Institute, and the generous supporters of the Arctic Studies Center in Alaska.</p> <p>NOTE: The knowledge that Alaska Natives (Indigenous peoples of Alaska) have shared on this site is their cultural heritage, and they have cultural property rights for this knowledge. Please utilize what you learn from Alaska Natives with respect to their rights, which includes not using what you learn for personal gain such as selling artwork derived from this knowledge. To learn more about how to appreciate Alaska Native cultures respectfully, please go to the collection <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/q/ll-c/Ha7AjCcnSBrgNbJt#r/44789">https://learninglab.si.edu/q/ll-c/Ha7AjCcnSBrgNbJt#r/44789</a><br>on this site where you will find a video and additional resources to learn more.</p> <p>Contributor: <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/profile/78098">Dawn Biddison</a><br></p> <p>Tags: Alaska, Native art, Tsimshian, Haida, Tlingit, Alaska Native, Southeast Alaska, Northwest Coast, Native art, Indigenous art, whistle, wind instrument, carving, red cedar, curved knife, crooked knife, museum, education, anthropology, museum studies, John Hudson, Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center in Alaska (#arcticstudies)</p>

<p>Unangax̂ men of the Aleutian Islands wore hunting hats and visors that were shaped from carved, boiled and bent planks of driftwood, intricately ornamented with paint, beads, walrus ivory and sea lion whiskers. The hats were practical headgear for kayak hunters and at the same time works of art expressing the spiritual connection between human beings and animals of the land, sea and air. In 2012, the Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center in Alaska hosted a bentwood hat making residency at the Anchorage Museum where Unangax̂ hat makers Patricia Lekanoff-Gregory and Michael Livingston worked with advanced apprentices Delores Gregory and Tim Shangin. They examined bentwood hats and visors from museum collections, and they carved, bent, and decorated their own, sharing their expertise with visiting students and museum guests.</p> <p>The video set presented here provides step-by-step instructions on how to make a bentwood hat and information on the use and significance of these hats in the past and today, along with artist interviews that provide first-hand information about the Aleutian Islands region and this important art form. Links to a selection of Unangax̂ bentwood hats and visors from the Smithsonian collections are included below.</p> <p>NOTE: The knowledge that Alaska Natives (Indigenous peoples of Alaska) have shared on this site is their cultural heritage, and they have cultural property rights for this knowledge. Please utilize what you learn from Alaska Natives with respect to their rights, which includes not using what you learn for personal gain such as selling artwork derived from this knowledge. To learn more about how to appreciate Alaska Native cultures respectfully, please go to the collection <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/q/ll-c/Ha7AjCcnSBrgNbJt#r/44789">https://learninglab.si.edu/q/ll-c/Ha7AjCcnSBrgNbJt#r/44789</a><br>on this site where you will find a video and additional resources to learn more.</p> <p>Contributor: <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/profile/78098">Dawn Biddison</a></p> <p><strong>Tags: </strong>Aleutian Islands, Alaska, Alaska Native art, Indigenous, Unangax̂, Unangax, Unangan, Sugpiaq, Aleut, bentwood hat, bentwood visor, chief's hat, Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center in Alaska (#arcticstudies)</p>

<p>In 1994, the Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center opened an Alaska office at the Anchorage Museum, and in opened the long-term exhibition <em>Living Our Cultures, Sharing Our Heritage: The First Peoples of Alaska</em>. The exhibition – created by in-depth collaboration with Alaska Natives throughout the project – presents Indigenous voices, perspectives and knowledge through over 600 masterworks of Alaska Native art and design from the National Museum of Natural History and National Museum of the American Indian collections. <em>Living Our Cultures</em> serves as both a public exhibition and as an active resource for community-based research, talks and educational events, some of which are shown in the videos provided below. A major focus of ongoing work is collaborations with Alaska Native Elders, artists and culture-bearers on heritage documentation and revitalization projects, which are presented in the <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/org/sasc-ak" target="_blank">Community Videos section</a> of this site. For more information, contact Aron Crowell (crowella@si.edu) or Dawn Biddison (biddisond@si.edu).</p> <p>NOTE: The knowledge that Alaska Natives (Indigenous peoples of Alaska) have shared on this site is their cultural heritage, and they have cultural property rights for this knowledge. Please utilize what you learn from Alaska Natives with respect to their rights, which includes not using what you learn for personal gain such as selling artwork derived from this knowledge. To learn more about how to appreciate Alaska Native cultures respectfully, please go to the collection <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/q/ll-c/Ha7AjCcnSBrgNbJt#r/44789">https://learninglab.si.edu/q/ll-c/Ha7AjCcnSBrgNbJt#r/44789</a><br>on this site where you will find a video and additional resources to learn more.</p> <p>Contributor: <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/profile/78098">Dawn Biddison</a></p> <p><strong>Tags:</strong> Alaska Native, Indigenous, heritage, art, collaboration, museum, objects, Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center in Alaska (#arcticstudies)</p>

<p>Join Moderator Tanya Lukin Linklater and speakers Taqralik Partridge and Sven Haakanson for a conversation about challenges to Inuit sovereignty in the art world, at museums and beyond. Alyson Hardwick from the Inuit Art Foundation introduces the event.</p> <p>The video series "Conversations" brings you into discussions with Indigenous peoples, providing information and insights on important subjects and issues, along with ideas and examples that can help prepare you for making choices about how to act with regard to Indigenous peoples and their heritage.</p> <p>Our Inuit advisors for the project are:</p> <ul><li>Kacey Purruq Qunmiġu Hopson, Indigenous Knowledge Advocate, First Alaskans Institute</li><li>Sonya Kelliher-Combs, Artist</li><li>Taqralik Partridge, Director, Nordic Lab at SAW</li><li>Krista Ulujuk Zawadski, PhD Candidate, Carleton University</li></ul> <p>This event was made possible through generous support of the Inuit Art Foundation and supporters of the Arctic Studies Center in Alaska. (#arcticstudies)<br></p> <p>Contributor: <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/profile/78098">Dawn Biddison</a></p> <p>Source: <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/search?f%5B%5D%5Btypes%5D=resource&st=Smithsonian%20Arctic%20Studies%20Center%20Alaska">Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center in Alaska</a></p>