Icons of life: A balance of traditional and contemporary Native art

A distinctly different pulse accompanied opening night at the art show now on display at the MTS Gallery in Mountain View. For those who missed it -- no worries. It all happens again (complete with the hors d'oeuvres and Allison Warden's ursine hip-hop performance) as part of the regular round of First Friday art events Friday.

And this time curator Ronald Senungetuk will address the crowd along with Joan Kane, arguably the state's most prominent new poet.

But art shows are, after all, about what you see. And this exhibit has a lot to recommend it.

"Inspiration" is an invitational group show of work by Alaska Native artists, both "well-known and emerging members who are introducing new ideas," said Senungetuk in his curator's statement. "Their interpretations provide a continuum in art that states who we are and expresses our way of blending with the Western way of thinking and doing art."

That continuum stretches from traditional forms -- masks by Sven Haakenson, a tiny baleen basket by Mary Jane Litchard, a wooden bowl and spoon set by Jim Miller -- to mixed media and avant-garde pieces using such decidedly non-traditional materials as metal car parts and neon gas.

The show originated at the Pratt Museum in Homer. It's at MTS through Nov. 14 as part of Alaska Native American Indian Heritage Month.

"There was a period of time when Native art was not meant as art at all, but as icons as part of life," wrote Senungetuk, whose own reputation is based on his success as a contemporary, even abstract, painter.

"I thought we needed to go beyond the commercial aspects and look at the wider realm," he said.

Two artists may particularly define the extent of that realm. Alvin Amason is known for his intensely expressionist, almost pop-art paintings of wildlife, often using attached sculptural elements and words. Some, like his mural at Anchorage International Airport, have drawn scorn and controversy from the public. But he's among Alaska's most successful and best-selling artists -- and a lot of "average folks" are buying his work.

Then there's Perry Eaton, retired business executive, who now carves elegant masks based on historic Kodiak forms. Some approach museum-quality replicas of the ancient designs; others show the artist's individual touch -- though always within the classic form. He's made an assiduous study of the old masks and is preparing to take several pieces of his own work to a show in Paris.

The two happen to share studio space in the back of the MTS building. At one point the party moved there from the main gallery where the juxtaposition of Eaton's carving tools and wood chips with Amason's bright paints, frames and glues made a striking -- but ultimately harmonious -- contrast.

And so it is on the walls of the exhibit. Sonya Kelliher-Combs' ghostly "paintings" in polymers and abstracts by Heather Hanak hang comfortably near a picture-perfect Tlingit mask by Wayne Price. Gretchen Sagan's large essays in pure form feel unconflicted by Lena Amason-Berns' tiny collages.

("I'm working smaller because it takes less time," said Amason-Berns. "Also, I want people to be able to afford it.")

Drawing much comment at the opening was a triptych by Southeast photographer Nicholas Galanin. He had a neon sign made reading "NO INDIANS OR DOGS ALLOWED" then set it in various locations -- in the woods, by a liquor store -- turned it on and took the picture.

But the most commented-on piece at the Pratt showing didn't make it to Anchorage. Rebecca Lyon's "Shock Waves" was a mask form with a radio speaker at its mouth and patriotic symbols ranging around the face, a comment on talk radio. It was purchased on sight by a patron from out of state and has left Alaska -- probably permanently.

Lyon's other piece made it, though, a fanciful sculpture titled "Tweet, Tweet." It shows a host of Alaska corvids -- a jay, a camp robber, a crow and a raven. Most are realistic, but not the raven. It wears a business suit and sports a face straight out of Southeast totemic art. In one hand the bird holds an Ipad with an avian display on its tiny screen.

"Tweet, Tweet" comes as close as anything in the show to exemplifying the theme enunciated by Senungetuk. "We live in the contemporary world, and we retain our traditions," he wrote. "I believe we have completed our circles for a way of making art."

Find Mike Dunham online at adn.com/contact/mdunham or call 257-4332.