News

KODIAK, AK—Each year, there are many people who donate their time and talents to the Alutiiq Museum. We are grateful for all who support our mission through volunteerism and every year, for Valentine’s Day, we like to show our appreciation by selecting one supporter to highlight as Volunteer of the Year. For 2025, we have chosen to highlight Kodiak local Marnie Kilborn-Gates for her support of the museum’s grand reopening events. Marnie helped make beaded necklaces in traditional colors to be distributed at our Grand Reopening this past May. Marnie grew up on the island and calls herself a lifelong Kodiakian. She loves the community here and has a giving spirit that leads her to volunteer frequently for a diversity of organizations. From the Alutiiq Museum to the Elks Lodge, Marnie has given her time and talents to the community. Through volunteering Marnie finds connection and an opportunity to serve that is fulfilling. Volunteering allows her to make a difference and give time to organizations that she supports. After many years working for KANA in social services, Marnie has spent the last year taking time to explore her creative side. Volunteering for the museum’s beading project was a perfect bridge for her to spend time getting back into artistic expression. Over the course of several months, Marnie contributed more than 100 necklaces for the special celebration. Sometimes she gathered with a small group of friends, occasionally she worked on her own, and weekly she met with an Alutiiq neighbor and Elder so that they could bead together. Marnie’s neighbor has health challenges that prevent her from attending community events, but they don’t stop her from wanting to be involved. By making a weekly date to bead together, Marnie helped her neighbor be a part of celebrating the museum’s reopening. She said, “This gave me an opportunity to bring a community activity to her… She loved the chance to be creative and make something beautiful. We would work together supporting each other’s creativity.” The simple act of making art accessible for others builds community and connection, perfectly aligning with the museum mission to connect people to Alutiiq culture and we are grateful to Marnie for her work on this project. To learn more about volunteering at the museum, please contact Djuna Davidson (844-4258844; djuna@alutiiqmuseum.org). The Alutiiq Museum welcomes all volunteers, and no previous experience is necessary. The Alutiiq Museum is a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving and sharing the history and living culture of the Alutiiq, an Alaska Native people. Representatives of Kodiak Alutiiq organizations govern the museum with funding from charitable contributions, memberships, grants, contracts, and sales..

Photo: Volunteer of the Year, Marnie Kilborn-Gates,

KODIAK, AK—The Alutiiq Museum is proud to announce a new artist services project for the Kodiak Archipelago. Funded by the Administration for Native Americans, this project will provide support and training to Tribal artists to increase their income and raise Alutiiq arts awareness in the tourism industry. Director of Language and Living Culture at the museum, Dehrich Chya says, “We are excited that this project will allow us to collaborate with some of our partners. We will work with KANA’s workforce development program, as well as the Kodiak Arts Council and Kodiak College to offer trainings and resources for artists.”

Veronica Johnson has been hired to coordinate the project, entitled “Kodiak Island Traditional Arts.” The acronym, KITA also means “Let’s Go!” In Alutiiq. Johnson is excited to explore how Alutiiq arts can help grow the Kodiak tourism economy. “People don’t often recognize Alutiiq arts as a key part of Kodiak, but by the end of the project I hope they will,” she says.

Working with Discover Kodiak and other local partners, Johnson will form a Native tourism working group to guide local planning and oversee development of a Native arts regulatory guide to educate the public about laws governing Native arts materials like ivory, feathers, and furs. Those interested in the project are encouraged to email or call the museum to get on the project contact list.

Photo: ANA Project Manager, Veronica Johnson

KODIAK—The Alutiiq Museum and the Kodiak Area Native Association (KANA) are collaborating on a retail and visitor services center. The Native Welcome Center, located in Kodiak’s downtown Marketplace, opened this week. It is designed to connect residents and tourists with Kodiak’s Native community. At the Welcome Center, visitors will find an orientation to the Alutiiq/Sugpiaq world and a selection of museum store merchandise. The center will sell both local artwork and museum products inspired by Kodiak’s Alutiiq heritage.

“The Marketplace was home to the Alutiiq Museum Store while we renovated our Mission Road building,” said Alutiiq Museum Executive Director April Counceller. “We rented a storefront to continue supporting artists and connect to our patrons. This centrally located cultural space became quite popular. More than 12,000 people visited last year. People loved having a place downtown to ask cultural questions, connect with our staff, and shop for local artwork. Many asked us to stay. With support from KANA and Koniag, we are able to do that.”

To advance the project, KANA is providing both space for the center and interns from its Workforce and Economic Development program. The interns are working beside museum staff members to learn about customer service, artist support, and retail management. The museum is providing its professional staff, furnishings, educational materials, and jewelry and artwork purchased from local artists. In the coming year, the museum is eager to develop plans for the welcome center with other stakeholders.

“This is the kind of partnership that really works. It brings people together, shares culture, and creates real opportunities for our interns to grow. The Welcome Center adds something special to our community, and we’re proud to support a space that celebrates who we are and helps shape what’s next,” said Mike Pfeffer, Chief Executive Officer of the Kodiak Area Native Association.

The Native Welcome Center is located on the first floor of the Marketplace, just inside the eastern entrance. Community members and visitors are invited to visit from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm, Tuesdays through Saturdays. There is no charge to visit the center. It is free to the public, and all are welcome.

Photo: Gallery & Retail Manager Chyian Heine

KODIAK—A digital place names map is the newest addition to the Alutiiq Museum’s website. This interactive tool allows visitors to explore over three hundred Alutiiq/Sugpiaq terms for Kodiak’s geographic features, landmarks, and communities. The map is based on research conducted by Dehrich Chya, the museum’s director of language and living culture. It was produced with support from the Native Village of Afognak and the US Bureau of Indian Affairs, with technical assistance from Sean Mack.

“Our people have lived on Kodiak for millennia, naming the places they live, harvest, and travel,” said Chya. “This map shares terms recorded in the past two centuries. Many come from interviews with Elder Alutiiq speakers. The names preserve cultural knowledge. They identify the places people harvested, they preserve information on hazards, like dangerous rocks and strong currents, and they recall past events like the discovery of an iron source or a battle.”

The map was constructed using ArcGIS, a platform that can meld cultural information with geospatial data. Users of the map can click on a place in the archipelago to see its Alutiiq name and hear it pronounced by an Alutiiq speaker. About a quarter of the entries also feature a photo from the museum’s collections. The map can be accessed from the language page of the museum’s website at https://alutiiqmuseum.org/alutiiq-people/language/#names. The website presentation includes the interactive map, a downloadable poster with fifty Alutiiq place names superimposed on a painting of the archipelago by Bruce Nelson, and links to place names research and summaries of village histories.

“This resource reminds us of the deep connections we have to Kodiak,” said Alutiiq Museum Executive Director April Laktonen Counceller. “When we can see and learn Alutiiq place names, we recognize our history and our ongoing connections to the world of our ancestors.”

Chya sees the map as a place to share and compile information, and as documentation of the Alutiiq language continues, he plans to add to it. He said, “I’m always looking for additional names. Sometimes people remember them. Other times, names are preserved in historic documents. And as Alutiiq is a living language, speakers are continuing to name places. Our map project included training so that we can continue to update the map with cultural knowledge.”

Photo: Ar’ursurwik–Whale Island

KODIAK—Archaeological research at the Alagnaruartuliq site (KAR-00064) on the shore of Kodiak Island’s Karluk Lake has revealed the remains of a very old campsite. A pair of radiocarbon dates on wood charcoal from an ancient hearth suggest that Alutiiq/Sugpiaq ancestors rested and made tools beside the confluence of Karluk Lake and River about 7,800 years ago. This date pushes the human settlement of Kodiak back at least 300 years. Until now, the oldest dated archaeological finds from Kodiak were about 7500 years old. Alutiiq Museum Director of Archaeology Molly Odell explained.

“We went to Alagnaruartuliq last summer to study an ancestral Alutiiq settlement visible on the site’s surface. Beneath a set of house depressions, there was a series of much older occupations. At the very bottom of the site, we found a small hearth made of cobbles associated with stone tools often found in Kodiak’s earliest sites.”

To date the hearth, the archaeologists sent a sample of the wood charcoal it contained to a professional laboratory for radiocarbon dating. When they received a date of 7800 years, they dated a second sample.

“Radiocarbon dates are estimates,” said Odell. “They provide a probable range. The first date was exciting, but to confirm its accuracy, we ran a second date with another lab. The dates were very similar. We are now confident they are good estimates. They suggest the hearth was used about 7800 years ago. This is 300 years older than any other dated settlement from Kodiak.”

“Three hundred years is a long time,” said Alutiiq Museum Curator of Archaeology Patrick Saltonstall. “But the dates are not surprising. We’ve been expecting to find older settlements. People were living along the coast of the Gulf of Alaska at least 10,000 years ago. These were maritime people. They were harvesting resources and traveling to places that required boats. It makes sense that they would have reached Kodiak, that there would be similarly aged settlements here. We just haven’t been able to locate them.”

Alutiiq Museum researchers believe that changes in sea level and coastal erosion have impacted their ability to find older settlers. Archaeologists have located and dated numerous old sites in coastal settings around Kodiak. A recently tested settlement overlooking Kiliuda Bay dated to about 7,400 years ago. The bottom of several settlements on the inner shores of Chiniak Bay are about 7,300 years old. Older dates have been elusive.

“About 7,300 years ago, sea level stabilized in the Gulf of Alaska, and the coast took on more of its modern shape,” said Saltonstall. “Sites dating to this point in time have been relatively easy to find. They are on old shorelines, often beneath younger settlements. Older sites from the coast may be underwater or washed away. In Kodiak’s interior, sea level is not impacting site preservation. It makes sense that we’d find more ancient deposits in this setting.”

Alagnaruartuliq means “lots of kinds of berries” in the Alutiiq language. The research team picked this name for the Karluk Lake site to highlight the rich resources found in Kodiak’s interior and support growing evidence of intensive use of this environment by Alutiiq ancestors. Surveys and excavations by Alutiiq Museum archaeologists illustrate that the courses of salmon streams were intensively settled for thousands of years. Now it appears that even early settlers harvested here.

“Kodiak has such rich maritime resources that researchers have overlooked the economic importance of its inland streams, meadows, and alpine areas,” said archaeologist and Alutiiq Museum Chief Curator Amy Steffian. “Over the past twenty-five years, we’ve been exploring Kodiak’s river valleys and documenting hundreds of sites. We now know that the interior was a critical habitat for hunting and collecting, as well as fishing, throughout the region’s human history. This recent find confirms that Alutiiq ancestors used the interior from first settlement.”

What were Alutiiq ancestors harvesting at Karluk Lake 7800 years ago? Studies from neighboring areas of the Gulf of Alaska suggest salmon populations stabilized and grew after 6,300 years ago. Archaeologists believe that early lake visitors may have been hunting waterfowl, collecting plant foods, or harvesting from the fox, river otter, and bear populations that settled Kodiak well before people arrived.

This week, the Alutiiq Museum launched another season of research at Karluk Lake. Archaeologists will be studying a 1500-year-old settlement to continue learning about the activities that took place in Kodiak’s interior and how they changed over time. They don’t anticipate finding another early settlement, but archaeology is a fickle science, and Saltonstall has his eyes open. “I’m excited to look for more evidence of early settlers,” he said.

“Learning about our history is so important,” said Alutiiq Museum Executive Director April Laktonen Counceller. “Each time we record a site or study an artifact, we add to the knowledge of our remarkable past. We are grateful to Koniag for their support of archaeological research at the Alutiiq Museum. It is revealing our ancestors’ world.”

The Alutiiq Museum’s ongoing research program at Karluk Lake is supported by Koniag. The National Park Service’s Alaska Native Tribal Affairs and Heritage Assistance Programs helped with radiocarbon dating.

Photos:  Left–Trevor Lamb excavates a small cobble hearth at the Alagnaruartuliq site. Charcoal from this feature dated to about 7800 years ago. Right–Patrick Saltonstall holds a stone blade from the oldest level of Alagnaruartuliq site. Alutiiq Museum photographs, 2025.

On May 22, the Alutiiq Museum will reopen to the public. The museum has been closed to visitors since August 2023 to undergo expansion and renovation of its facilities. The multi-year, $14.3 M project added 3400 square feet to the building and greatly expanded the space available for community education and collections care. The renovation is now complete, and the public is invited to attend a series of Grand Reopening events. The celebration will take place May 22 through May 24 during Kodiak’s annual Crab Festival. It also marks the museum’s thirtieth anniversary.

“We are excited to share our beautiful new facilities with Kodiak,” said Executive Director April Counceller. “Our patrons made this transformation possible. They told us they needed more space for learning. We used their input to attract funding and design a renovation that will support museum services for decades. Our community also stepped up with exceptional support. We raised over two million dollars in our capital campaign. It is now time to welcome everyone back to the Alutiiq Museum.”

In preparation for visitors, staff members created an entirely new set of exhibits for an expanded exhibit hall. The displays share over 670 cultural belongings from the museum’s collections, fusing Alutiiq/Sugpiaq values, ancestral artifacts, historic photos, quotes from community members, and contemporary artwork into presentations emphasizing continuities in Alutiiq traditions. Other notable features include touchable petroglyph replicas, a play space filled with toys, audio stations with recordings of Alutiiq legends, a touch screen display of historic village photos, and a creation station. Here, visitors can make an art card inspired by petroglyph designs. Staff have also enhanced the museum store, now doubled in size, with new furniture and merchandise. And they developed an honor wall—a glass tile display in the new lobby with the names of renovation donors.

Grand Reopening events will include an evening celebration on May 22, from 4:00 to 8:00 PM, with Alutiiq dance performances, gifts of beaded necklaces, all new exhibits, and a red carpet photo fundraiser. The following day, on May 23, from 10:00 AM to 5:30 PM, the museum will host an Alutiiq/Sugpiaq film festival in its new workshop space, a large addition to the facility designed for cultural events. The festival will feature nine films exploring the Kodiak Alutiiq heritage movement. On May 24, from 12:00 to 5:00 PM, the public is invited to a Native Arts Market, where artists will sell directly to patrons. The artists will include Bianca Doran, Skyler Gertz, Samantha Heglin, Kathy Johnson, Susan Malutin, Native Village of Afognak, Mariah Stapelton, Brandy Thomas, Lisa Truitt, and Diana Velez.

All events are free to the public and include access to the museum’s new exhibits, thanks to generous sponsorship from Matson and Kodiak Diesel. Everyone is welcome to attend. Additional information on the events, including a program for the film festival, is available on the events page of the museum website.

Mask by Coral Chernoff.

On May 22, the Alutiiq Museum will debut Cuumillapet—Our Ancestors, an exhibit of watercolor paintings by Sugpiaq artist Cheryl Lacy. The show is part of the museum’s Grand Reopening celebration. It features eleven portraits of Alutiiq ancestors, restyled from early 19^th-century Russian paintings. Lacy captured the faces of Alutiiq people documented in the painting and then placed each in a Kodiak landscape. Cuumillapet—Our Ancestors is the first show in the museum’s new Living Culture Gallery—a space created for short-term exhibits as part of the recent building renovation.

“We are thrilled to share Cheryl’s paintings in our new gallery,” said Executive Director April Counceller. “Her lovely watercolors bring our ancestors to life and remind us that Alutiiq culture persists thanks to their strength. This is the first of many shows that will grace this special space. In the coming years, we look forward to featuring displays of all kinds, from locally curated art exhibits to presentations from archaeological studies, and visiting displays produced by other organizations.”

Cheryl Lacy is an avid illustrator, painter, and beader. She has been drawing for as long as she can remember, inspired by the beauty of Alaska and her Sugpiaq heritage. Cheryl is particularly known for her ability to capture faces. It took her just five months to reimagine the eleven portraits. She said, “I am so honored to be a part of this project. It allowed me to sit with our ancestors and try to imagine the life they led. I would turn on wave and seagull background sounds, and my surroundings would drop away.”

Lacy helped to develop the show, advising on the layout of the paintings and contributing to the text. She will travel to Kodiak to attend the show’s opening. Many organizations supported the development of Cuumillapet—Our Ancestors. Rasmuson Foundation supported the commission of Lacy’s painting through the Alaska Art Fund administered by Museums Alaska. The Frame Shop provided a substantial discount on framing the eleven large watercolors, a Grant-in-Aid from the Alaska State Museum supported exhibit production and travel costs, and funding from The CIRI Foundation supported staff time and framing.

Access to the museum’s Living Culture Gallery is always free. The public can visit Cuumillapet—Our Ancestors anytime during the museum’s regular hours. The museum plans to share the watercolor display for a year. A digital version is also available on the museum’s website.

KODIAK—The Alutiiq Museum has unveiled The Fire of Living Culture, an outdoor mural featuring an original piece of digital artwork by Sugpiaq artist Todd Metrokin. The 13 by 35-foot vinyl wall hanging is displayed on the outside of the museum’s new addition—a workshop space created as part of a recent building renovation. The mural features bold graphic shapes shown in high contrast. The drawing is intended to capture attention from a distance and draw viewers toward the museum.

The mural project was part of the museum’s efforts to add cultural imagery to its building. Executive Director April Counceller explained. “For this month’s Grand Reopening, we wanted to share a large piece of contemporary artwork—as a celebration of our living culture and a visitor aid. In the past, people have had trouble finding the museum. The mural is part of an effort to help people locate our building and feel welcome. We have also added a new sign to the front of the museum, and our name and petroglyph logo now appear above the front door.”

Metrokin’s artwork mixes local scenery and cultural images—a woman holding a burning naniq–oil lamp, men paddling kayaks, the cultural hero Raven, a berry picker, and a float plane. He said, “My design concept connects our past to our future—from creation (represented by the raven) to our ancestors to modern life and beyondthrough the enduring flame of the naniq. The naniq’s flame echoes through time and grows richer in colors as it reflects a culture continuing to grow. This represents the resilience of our people and is meant to act as a counterpoint to the notion that our culture is only a reflection of the past. It is a living, evolving blend of experiences, knowledge, and creativity that we bring forward and enrich with each generation.”

The museum selected Metrokin’s design through a competitive process. First, tribal artists were invited to submit examples of their work. From fifteen submissions, a volunteer review committee picked three artists to create draft mural designs. Then, the committee selected Todd’s concept as the winning entry. A grant from the American Indian Alaska Native Tourism Association (AIANTA), funded by the US Forest Service, supported the project. The mural will be displayed for the coming year.

Todd Metrokin grew up in Kodiak and has spent his entire life creating art. He tells stories through his illustrations, using ancestral symbolism to create a modern graphic language. His work ranges from minimalist illustrations to dramatic collages. Each piece is grounded by a strong composition with layers of pattern and details that invite the viewer deeper into the story. Metrokin currently works in Spokane as a creative director in advertising.

KODIAK—Every January, the Alutiiq Museum reflects on the many people who gave their time and talents to our previous year’s projects. Then, on Valentine’s Day, we select one outstanding contribution for our Volunteer of the Year award. For 2024, that recognition goes to Lynn Walker, a museum lover, graduate student, and the Curator of the Kodiak History Museum.

Originally from Michigan, Lynn moved to Fairbanks in 2016 to work on a PhD at the University of Alaska and then to Kodiak in 2021 to pursue her research. Even before she became an islander, Lynn volunteered at the Alutiiq Museum. She gave her time to a community archaeology project, excavating on Near Island and assisting with lab work.

This past year, Lynn supported the museum’s renovation. She served on the volunteer Exhibits Advisory Committee for months, reviewing text and designs for upcoming exhibits. With her background in exhibit development, Lynn was a remarkable resource. She read draft panels, attended long meetings, and brought thoughtful comments from her knowledge of local history. She was a reliable evaluator, and her insights enhanced the displays. Lynn also gave her time to our collections move, sharing her expert knowledge of artifact handling. She helped to move ancestral objects and artwork into the new storage vault, aiding the safe transition of collections.

“Lynn’s commitment to service made a meaningful impact on the Alutiiq Museum in 2024,” said the museum’s Executive Director April Laktonen Counceller. “Museums are complicated organizations with a need for expertise in many areas. Volunteers provide essential support whether it’s chaperoning a school group, building artifact boxes, or contributing to committees that help to evaluate our work.”

For Lynn, volunteering is a way to support organizations she cares about. She said, “Volunteering is something I am quite passionate about . . . a way to get even more involved at a meaningful level. I may not be able to donate money, but I can donate my time, my skills, and my perspective.”

She also recognizes that volunteering helps her learn. “I really enjoyed my time both providing my own feedback and hearing the input of others. It helped shape how I approach topics in my work . . . I feel like a lot of people don’t understand what a museum does until they volunteer.”

To learn more about volunteering at the museum, please contact Djuna Davidson (844-425-8844; djuna@alutiiqmuseum.org). The Alutiiq Museum welcomes all volunteers, and no previous experience is necessary.

Photo: Lynn Walker studying baskets at the Kodiak History Museum. Courtesy of Lynn Walker.

KODIAK—The Alutiiq Museum has received three cultural objects for its collections—a mid-19^th-century wooden bowl collected on Kodiak Island and two skin bags created by Alutiiq artist Lalla Williams. The objects are from the collections of the Ralph T. Coe Center for the Arts, a non-profit organization in Santa Fe, New Mexico dedicated to exploring Indigenous arts. They were gifted to the Alutiiq Museum as part of a rehoming initiative for the Coe Center’s more than 2500-piece collection.

“We are grateful for the Coe Center’s interest in returning cultural objects to descendant communities,” said Alutiiq Museum Executive Director April Laktonen Counceller. “There is a growing recognition among museums that Indigenous communities are the best caretakers of their own cultural objects, and that these objects are important in helping Native people live their culture. The Coe Center invited organizations to apply to become stewards of items in their collections, and the Alutiiq Museum was awarded the pieces from our region. The Coe Center paid for packing and shipping to Alaska and will even provide a small grant to help with the care of the pieces. We are grateful.”

Carved from a single piece of wood, the bowl is likely a food-serving dish. It features a flat bottom, sloped sides, and a decorative rim with a shallow groove. The bowl is generally oval, although one end is gently pointed, like a boat or a mask.

The two contemporary bags reflect Lalla Williams’s sewing expertise and use of natural materials. One is a purse made of pale grey sea bass skin. It has an ivory clasp and a lining of flowered cotton cloth. The other is a small pouch made of seal gut accented with marten fur, yarn, leather, and cotton. Williams, an Alutiiq Elder from a Karluk family, currently lives in Anchorage. Before this gift, the Alutiiq Museum owned just three examples of her skin sewing—a parka and two hats.

The objects will be integrated into the museum’s collections and shared with the public through gallery and online displays.

“We have already found a place for the bowl in our new exhibits, in a display on household life,” said Counceller, “and photos of all three items are available on our website.”

Photo: Left–sea bass purse by Lalla Williams, Middle–wooden bowl by an ancestral artist, Right–seal gut bag by Lalla Williams.

With a $16,950 grant from Museums Alaska, the Alutiiq Museum will purchase works from five artists for its permanent collection. The pieces are the creations of Rolf Lee Christiansen of Old Harbor, Cheryl Lacy of Wasilla, and Janelle Barton, Arlene Skinner, and Stacy Studebaker of Kodiak. They were offered to the museum through a public call for artwork last September, and then selected for their craftsmanship and connections to the museum’s mission. Alutiiq Museum Executive Director April Counceller explained.

“We are proud of our contemporary art collection,” said Counceller. “Our staff, volunteer collections advisory committee, and our board review every piece. This thoughtful process ensures we collect works that best exemplify Alutiiq traditions and the Alutiiq world. Over the past twenty years, the fund has allowed us to build a sizeable collection of contemporary art representing this era of our history—from the reawakening of traditions, to issues that impact our communities, and the environment that sustains us. It’s particularly meaningful that we can purchase additional works now—during national Native American Heritage Month. The selected pieces will help us tell Alutiiq stories in our exhibits, publications, and educational programs for years.”

From Christiansen, the museum will purchase a set of three hand-carved stone oil lamps. Two of the lamps have petroglyph engravings. The third has a mask sculpted in the bowl—a relief carving designed to emerge as the oil burns. The lamps are made from water-rounded cobbles collected on the beach below Refuge Rock—where a 1784 massacre of Alutiiq people by Russian traders took place. Today Refuge Rock is on Native land near Christiansen’s home. By creating beautiful cultural objects from rocks collected in this infamous location, Christiansen demonstrates the persistence of his people and culture. Two and a half centuries after the massacre, the Alutiiq have reclaimed the Refuge Rock and are reawakening traditions suppressed by colonialism.

From Lacy, the museum will purchase How Big Was Your Fish?, a three-dimensional beaded mask. Nineteenth-century Alutiiq masks inspired this piece. The work includes the traditional mask parts—a face, hoop fitted with decorative attachments, and cross braces – covered in beadwork. There are also subtle beaded petroglyph designs in the mask’s face. Lacy’s piece shares ancestral designs in a modern format. In her proposal, Lacy said, “I’ve always wanted to make an Alutiiq mask, but I don’t know how to carve. I do know how to bead.”

From Barton, the museum will purchase a pair of baleen bracelets—one of humpback and the other of grey whale baleen. Barton cleaned, carved, bent, and polished the baleen to create pieces that resemble traditional cuffs worn around the wrist of a kanaglluk—gut skin jacket. Although widely used in ancestral technologies, baleen working faded in the nineteenth century as commercial whale harvesting supplanted Alutiiq hunting. Barton’s work represents efforts to reintegrate this valuable material into artistic practice.

From Skinner, the museum will purchase Contemporary Woman’s Spruce Root Hat. Made from locally harvested spruce root, this hat is modeled after ancestral pieces featuring a wide, gently sloped brim encircling a conical cap. Among the Alutiiq, spruce root hats were typically worn by men and decorated with hunting talismans. Skinner’s reinterpretation is designed for a woman. She uses the classic form but signals femininity with decorations. The edge of the hat is trimmed in fluffy, pink cotton fabric, the cap has train of white mohair, and glittery beads and shells provide embellishment. Spruce root hats are difficult to weave. Skinner’s piece will be only the second complete example in the museum’s holdings.

From Studebaker, the museum will purchase Western Sandpiper at Low Tide, a color pencil drawing of a shorebird in Kalsin Bay. The naturalistic drawing shows the animal in its environment. It reveals both an intertidal species Alutiiq people have a history of harvesting and the shoreline habitat in which the bird lives. Alutiiq Elders report hunting such birds at low tide at night and adding them to soups and stews. The drawing helps to reveal the diversity of bird life in the Kodiak region and provides an opportunity to discuss the importance of birds to subsistence and spirituality.

Support for these purchases comes from the Alaska Art Fund. Established by Rasmuson Foundation in 2003, the fund promotes the development of contemporary art collections in Alaska museums. Museums Alaska, the state-wide museum association, administers the fund. Images of the recent purchases can be seen in the contemporary art gallery on the museum’s website.

Photo: Stone oil lamps by Alutiiq artist Rolf Christiansen.

KODIAK, Alaska—A $149,451 grant to Koniag from the Institute of Museum and Library Services will help the Alutiiq Museum make improvements to its library. The funding will support the Liigwik—Learning Place project, an effort to enhance public use of the Koniag Cultural Library by outfitting a new library space in the renovated museum building and hosting a series of library events.

“This project is part of our broader efforts to invite more public use of the museum and its resources,” said Executive Director April Counceller. “Many people don’t realize we have a research library. For many years, the collection was in the museum basement. It was difficult to access and patrons had to make appointments. With the museum’s renovation, we are able to put the library in a larger second-floor space and offer public hours.”

Founded in 2018, the Koniag Cultural Library is the official tribal library of Kodiak’s regional Native corporation, Koniag. The Alutiiq Museum owns and manages the collection for the benefit of the tribal community and the public. At present, the library contains over 3,800 pieces of printed material, 208 audio-visual items, 2.4 linear feet of vertical files, and 11,000 photographs reflecting Kodiak, the Alutiiq world, and the museum’s work. Curator of Collections Amanda Lancaster serves as the librarian.

The Liigwik—Learning Place project will rehouse and share library materials. In the coming months, staff members will move the library into its new home in the Alutiiq Center. Grant funds will provide furnishings—shelving, tables, seating, signage, and two computers. Starting next fall, staff will host library events to connect patrons to library resources, including genealogical resources.

“Our goal is to create a better functioning library,” said Counceller. “We receive hundreds of requests for information about the Alutiiq world each year, requests that demonstrate a deep interest in exploring Alutiiq history, language, and traditions. Liigwik will transform our library into a learning center. It will elevate the library program to the level of other AMAR programs. And when Kodiak learns about Alutiiq people, we address lingering stereotypes, elevate respect for Native people, and build a stronger community.”

Image: New library logo designed by April Counceller