Kristy Suydam-Green

Kristy Suydam-Green comes from a Kodiak family with deep roots in the Alutiiq community.  She has traced her Alutiiq ancestors to two nineteenth-century villages—Eagle Harbor and Kiliuda through genealogical research. 

Kristy credits the women in her family for teaching her to bead and for providing inspiration. Her sister Tiffany learned to make headdresses at an Alutiiq Museum workshop and then passed the skills to Kristy. Instruction from Tiffany and resources from the Alutiiq Museum helped her complete her first headdress, and many more since. The artistic talents of her mother and grandmother taught her attention to detail and the use of colors.

Kristy says, “My grandma, Alice Ryser, created beautiful cross-stitch pieces and woven baskets, which were my first inspirations as an artist. From my father’s side, I inherited my Alutiiq ancestry, while my mother’s side, including Grandma Alice, connects me to my Maidu ancestry. I saw the artistic traits my grandma inherited from the Maidu people, who were skilled basket weavers. I admired her perfectionism, a quality she and my mother passed on to me. Her cross-stitch style influences my own work, as I still draw my headdress patterns out like cross-stitch patterns. My mom, Wenona Suydam, is also an incredible artist and photographer. Watching her work has taught me to pay close attention to detail and color, skills that show in my own work.”

Kristy lives in Washington State with her husband and is an Alutiiq Seal artist.

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Kristy Green-Suydam