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Graphic Arts

Miniature skin working board painted with the images of a swimming sea otter.  Koniag Collection, Karluk One, AM193.

In classical Alutiiq society, graphic arts had many functions. Careful decoration added beauty to objects, showing respect for the plants and animals that provided for people and ensured future prosperity. Pictures also preserved history. Like books, they created a physical record of the past, recording events and stories.

Some images were also family symbols. Imagine that a hunter killed two seals with one harpoon strike. This very lucky event might be symbolized in paintings on his household implements. When people saw the painted tools they would be reminded of the hunter’s skill and good fortune, and know the objects belong to his family. The picture preserved a story, celebrated the hunter’s talent, and expressed ownership.

Painted images, including geometric designs, animals, human figures, boats, celestial bodies, and spirits were the final decorative touches on many objects. Alutiiq people painted pictures on wooden objects–hats, paddles, arrows, bows, boxes, masks, and many other implements. They also pecked pictures on boulders, etched designs into stone and bone weaponry, and created images through weaving and embroidery.

Petroglyphs face from Cape Alitak.

Photo by Sven Haakanson.

Pebble Drawing from the Monashka Bay site.

Drawing by Eric Carlson.

Sadie Coyle

Photo by Mike Haffeman

Learn More

Igaruacirpet—Our Way of Making Designs

Alutiiq artwork is alive!  Paintings tell family stories and send messages.  Circles are eyes that watch for prey.  The color green calls upon spirits for assistance.  Igaruacirpet explores the Alutiiq arts, focusing on the ways that graphic designs carry cultural information. The chapter on petroglyphs, incised drawing, painting, and body art share hundreds of traditional images, investigate their history and meaning and reveal conventions in Alutiiq art. Available from the Alutiiq Museum Store.


Illustrating Alutiiq Legends

Images help bring stories to life.  In 2021, community artists helped to illustrate Alutiiq/Sugpiaq legends with drawings, paintings, fabric art, and digital media for Unigkuat, a book of traditional Alutiiq tales. A selection of their work appears below. Supported by the Munartet project through the Alaska State Council on the Arts.

Her Husband is a Star.

Digital media by Jessica Faust.

How Raven Brough the Light.

Digital media by Annaline Olsen

They Came to Bury Us, but We Buried Them Instead.

Digital media by Hanna Sholl.

The Girl Who Married the Moon.

Watercolor painting by Cheryl Lacy.

Aqlatt

Drawing by Emily Conlogue

Northern Lights

Digital media by Courtney Griechen

Natural Childbirth

Drawing by June Pardue

Bear Woman

Digital Media by Alyssa Madrid.

Victory

Drawing by Rhonda Shelford Jansen

Pampallua—Her Tail

Digital media by Mariah Stapleton

Ar’ursulek: The Whaler

Drawing by David Taineq Tucker

Surrender to the Current

Digital media by Sabrina Kessakorn

Llaanirmiuwak: The Ones of the West

Block print by Lani Vanderlip

Boy as Eagle Goes Out to Ocean at Night to Get Whale

Watercolor by Elizabeth Egan

Fire Ball

Digital media by Denise Anderson