Anchorage Daily News

Anchorage artist Charles Oakley was looking at one of the pieces in the "Giinaquq" Alutiiq mask exhibit on display at the Anchorage Museum and something looked familiar to him.

Click to enlarge

"Nakirnalik,"or "Snub-nosed One," is included in the exhibition "Giinaquq (Like a Face): Sugpiaq Masks of the Kodiak Archipelago" at the Anchorage Museum.

Click to enlarge

Story tools

Comments (0)

E-mail a friend

Print

Share on Facebook

Digg this

Seed Newsvine

Send link via AIM

Follow on Twitter

Font size : A | A | A

Oakley, whose background includes working with and decorating weapons, thought the carved wooden mask dubbed "Snub-nosed One," bore a striking similarity to helmets worn by knights in medieval France.

In this case, the shape, lines and nose-guard found in helmets from around the time of William the Conqueror (1066, history buffs), matched key features of the mask. Furthermore, Oakley noticed the symmetrical white rings on the mask and was reminded of the rivets of the helmet.

Maybe all that's a coincidence. Or maybe, Oakley suspects, the mask artist was working on a design shown to him by Alphone Pinart, the collector who acquired old masks and commissioned new ones in the 1870s. Pinart was "roughing it" but could conceivably have had books with him that included the helmet design.

We'll let the reader decide. We've posted pictures for examination at adn.com/artsnob.

On a non-historical subject: Oakley, who lives in breezy Muldoon, found signs from the recent campaign blown all over his yard. Complaining to candidates did no good, he said, so he decided to turn them into art. He took the stakes and glued them into a block from which he carved a humpback whale leaping from a wave. A photo of that recycled "found" art may also be viewed at adn.com/artsnob.

Heritage Center honored for service to youths

The Alaska Native Heritage Center was among the recipients of this year's Coming Up Taller Awards, presented by first lady Laura Bush at a ceremony in the East Room of the White House on Friday.

An initiative of the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, the awards recognize and support outstanding community arts and humanities programs that celebrate the creativity of young people and provide them with new learning opportunities and a chance to contribute to their communities.

The awards also highlight the contributions that historians, scholars, librarians and visual and performing artists make to families and communities by mentoring children.

The Heritage Center was among 19 groups selected from 370 contenders for the honor and the $10,000 prize. It was noted for its after-school program that uses the arts and humanities to teach young people about their cultural heritage. Through the program, area youths work with skilled Alaska Native instructors who share their knowledge of traditional dance and music and Native arts that include carving, mask-making, basketry and more.

The participants also attend leadership workshops where they are introduced to high-profile Alaska leaders.

Those who complete 120 hours in the program receive a semester of high school credit, which counts toward graduation. About 15 percent of the program's participants work at the center during the summer as dancers, cultural interpreters and visitor service workers.

Sitka totem carver gets Maine residency

Tommy Joseph of Sitka, best known as a carver of totem poles, received a $50,000 fellowship last year from Marion Stroud, founder of the Fabric Workshop and Museum in Philadelphia.

According to a report in The New York Times this week, Stroud, whose nickname is Kippy, has invited Joseph to stay in one of the cabins at Kamp Kippy in Mount Desert Island, Maine, an informal and sprawling artists retreat she founded in 1993, and offered him a 2009 residency at the Fabric Workshop to complete a long-term project, recreating the battle dress, arms and armor of warriors from the Tlingit tribe of Native Americans.

Registration opens for 2009 arts conference

Early registration for the 2009 Alaska Arts and Culture Conference will end Nov. 30. The conference will be Jan. 29-31 at the Hotel Captain Cook in Anchorage and is billed as an opportunity "for artists, arts organizations and educators to come together to learn and be inspired by the amazing work going on in the state."

Workshops will include many practical issues from nonprofit budgeting and electronic arts to how to get gigs and market your work.

Conference costs are as follows:

Registration before Dec. 1, $150

Registration on or after Dec. 1, $200

One-day registration, $85

Student registration, $75 (must present student ID)

Guest fee for opening-night reception Jan. 29, $25

Guest fee for lunch Jan. 30, $35

More information and registration are at www.eed.state.ak.us/aksca.

High School Musical

The Alaska version -- that is, not Disney's -- takes place at 6 p.m. Saturday at West High. Alaska's All State Music Festival showcases extremely talented high school musicians from around the state who have competed for the privilege of performing in this yearly festival.

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

ADVERTISEMENT