Helen Jane Simeonoff
Born Oct. 23, 1941, Kodiak
Died Jan. 8, 2011, Anchorage
Helen Simeonoff was a regular figure at local art shows where she sold watercolor paintings. But her most significant achievement may have been her persistence in locating ancient Alutiiq masks that left Alaska more than a century ago.
Such masks are extremely rare. The Alutiiq culture (sometimes called Sugpiaq because of the language, a branch of the Yup'ik language group) was almost completely suppressed or assimilated by the early 20th century. Archeologist Sven Haakanson, director of the Alutiiq Museum in Kodiak, said there are four such objects in that repository and another 10 in St. Petersburg, Russia.
"We had no traditions when I was growing up," said Simeonoff, an Alutiiq. "Nor were there any books."
So in 1994, when she caught a lecture by a French woman that mentioned Alutiiq masks at the Chateau Musee in Boulogne-sur-Mer, France, she became curious. She tried to interest other Native artists, corporations and experts into sending someone to check out the collection but found no takers.
It took her six years to save enough money to make the trip herself. At the medieval fortress that houses the museum she was ushered into a room filled with Alaska artifacts, the first Sugpiaq to view them in 120 years.
The masks had been collected by a young Frenchman, Alphonse Pinart, in 1872. Memory of the pieces generally faded in Alaska. But they were greeted with acclaim in Paris and treated as world art treasures. When the Nazi army advanced in World War II, the citizens of Boulogne went to the museum, removed and hid the masks for the duration of the war. When peace returned, so did the collection -- intact.
Back in Alaska, Simonoff redoubled her efforts to bring the Alutiiq masks to the attention of other artists. This time she found support from Haakenson and artist Perry Eaton. In 2006 she joined them and other Sugpiat on a pilgrimage to the French museum.
Haakenson described the scene: "No one spoke for the first five minutes as sadness and joy passed through us. Several of the artists cried openly."
Several of the precious pieces were brought to Anchorage for a major show, "Giinaquq (Like a Face): Sugpiaq Masks of the Kodiak Archipelago," in 2008.
The magnificent catalogue/companion book for the exhibit, "Two Journeys," was dedicated to Simeonoff. "She understood before most of us the importance of Alphonse Pinart's work," it reads. "Her determination and perseverance opened our eyes."
Organizers did not want her to know about the dedication until they could formally present it to her. But she had pre-ordered copies for herself and when she found out that they had arrived, showed up to claim her books. Haakanson ordered the copies he had received hidden and told her they hadn't come in yet. She grew angry and began calling around to find out what the hang-up was. Haakanson scrambled to call ahead and keep others from revealing the secret, which only made her madder.
When the surprise that she was the star of the book was finally revealed, Simeonoff was mortified. "I was such a jerk," she said. "I felt like crawling under the table."
Eaton put her contribution into perspective. He called her "The tipping point, the lady that lit the fire."
John Haines
Born June 29, 1924, Norfolk, Va.
Died March 2, 2011, Fairbanks
John Meade Haines came to Alaska after serving in the U.S. Navy in World War II. He homesteaded on the Richardson Highway, north of Delta, in the 1940s, returned to Washington, D.C., to study art, then came back to the homestead where, in the mid-1950s, he began writing poetry.
In 1966 he gained national attention with his first book of poetry, "Winter News," now considered a classic of modern American literature. Russian poet Yvgeny Yevtushenko made it a point to stop by Haines' cabin and share shots of vodka with him when he visited the state that year.
His writings about nature particularly caught the attention of readers in the emerging environmental movement. He was seen as the contemporary voice of a line of American frontier philosophers stretching from Benjamin Franklin to John Muir.
Haines sold his homestead in 1969 and began a checkered life of travel, relocations and relationships. He taught briefly at both UAF and the UAA and had many guest professorships at other colleges and major writers' workshops.
Awards and accolades poured in. His admirers included Barry Lopez, Dana Gioia and William Kittredge. Kittredge cited him for inspiring a generation of writers in the American West, far from the East Coast literary establishment. His work was widely included in anthologies and taught in college courses. He published constantly, not only poetry but essays and criticism. His most recent book, "Descent," came out in 2010.
Regular employment, however, escaped him. He seemed particularly bitter about his inability to get a job with the University of Alaska system. There were questions of fitness and professional jealousy. Out-of-state observers were baffled.
In July, 2010, I found him suffering from respiratory problems and appearing weak. Living some miles from Fairbanks, he had lost his driver's license due to a heart condition and was indignant about (among other things) depending on others for transportation.
In February, his longtime friend John Kooistra, former University of Alaska Fairbanks philosophy professor took the dehydrated and undernourished poet to the hospital.
As he drifted in and out of consciousness, friends came by and read to him. Kooistra was reading from "Winter News" when Haines passed away.
"Anybody who dedicates themselves to poetry is taking a chance," Haines once said. "It's a daunting business, and I don't recommend it."
Angyuqaq Oscar Kawagley
Born Nov. 8, 1934, Bethel
Died April 24, 2011, Fairbanks
Oscar Kawagley received a very traditional Yup'ik upbringing from his grandmother, Matilda Oscar, after his parents died. She spoke only Yup'ik and taught him everything she knew of village and fish camp life. But she also insisted that he learn the western thinking taught in government schools.
Kawagley became one of Alaska's most influential teachers and thinkers, a pioneer in the field of indigenous knowledge, not just in Alaska but in the academic world at large.
He served in the military, taught elementary and high school in Tok, Glennallen and Anchorage, received a master's degree in education at UAF in 1968 and superintendent certification in 1987.
From 1977 to 1981, he was the president of Calista Corp. He also did some acting in films and the television show, "Northern Exposure." But education remained his life's work. Among other positions, he had a long association with the Rural Alaska Honors Institute.
In 1991, while working on a doctorate degree in social and educational studies at the University of British Columbia, he published a paper, "Yup'ik Ways of Knowing," that set a new course in the study of indigenous knowledge systems. Expanding it into a book, "A Yupiaq Worldview: A pathway to ecology and spirit" (Waveland Press, 1995), he explained how western science could benefit from Native ways of understanding -- and vice versa. He developed the concept of "indigenous methodology."
Kawagley explored these ideas in publications, essays, speeches, participation at international conferences and as an associate professor of education at UAF. He taught an encyclopedic range of subject matter, from Yup'ik language to psychology to law, stressing his passion for giving equal weight to both Native and western knowledge.
Sean Topkok, who manages information systems for UAF's Alaska Native Knowledge Network, recalled Kawagley's cross-cultural course, in which he was a student. "He was an excellent listener to the students, knowledgeable not only in learning but in expressing his ideas."
In October he posthumously shared the 2011 Governor's Award for the Humanities with fellow professor Ray Barnhardt and Homer historian Jim Rearden.
"He helped validate indigenous knowledge systems within academia," said Topkok. "I think he inspired people worldwide."
Larry Carr
Born July 28, 1929, Albuquerque, N.M.
Died May 12, 2011, Anchorage
Laurence John Carr is famous as the grocer who transformed the retail food business in Alaska during the post-World War II boom years. But his interest in promoting the arts and education should not be overlooked.
His cash contributions helped make the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts and the Elmo Sackett Broadcast Center realities.
"Dad was low key on contributions," said his son, Greg Carr, who led a drive to fund the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts. "Since I hit him and (business partner Barney Gottstein) up for the donation I was reminded over the years with a wink and a smile how much I cost him."
The entry and mixing area between the center's Discovery and Sydney Laurence Theatres is named the Larry and Wilma Carr-Barney and Rachel Gottstein Lobby, one of many public spaces that bear his name.
In September, the Anchorage Symphony Orchestra dedicated its annual Champagne Pops fundraiser concert to his memory. Dedications typically accompany regular season concerts. But Sherri Reddick, the symphony's executive director explained:
"For decades Larry and Wilma Carr's Champagne Pops reservation was among the first received at the ASO office. At these events they gave generously, bidding on auction items or purchasing raffle tickets. And for many years now a week or so after Pops a check would arrive in the mail from Mr. and Mrs. Carr. Unsolicited donation -- no strings attached -- no concern about acknowledgment. Sometimes there would be a card indicating how much they enjoyed Champagne Pops and enclosed would be a donation. That donation was always among the largest we received each season from either patrons or corporations."
Ten years ago, he arranged for the orchestra to perform for his wife's birthday.
But the arts were only a portion of his philanthropic activities. He played a major role in rescuing Alaska Methodist University, now Alaska Pacific University, when the institution fell onto economic hard times.
"Larry was APU's patron saint," wrote APU President Don Bantz in a letter to the Daily News. "Absent his strong vision, leadership and financial support, APU may not have survived. (He) was still actively engaged in APU even as he struggled with his health during his last year.
I walk by the Carr-Gottstein building every day -- there he is. Portraits of Larry and Wilma greet us in Atwood Center as well as the Carr-Gottstein building. I recreate in the Mosley Sports complex -- there he is again. Larry's hand is everywhere. Larry Carr will preside over APU in perpetuity. We are all the better for it.
"I'm not sure he separated in his mind gifts to education, the arts or heath and social services," said Greg Carr, who noted that there really wasn't a complete record of his donations to Alaska nonprofit groups over the years. "If he saw a need or was made aware and wanted to help, he just gave.
"I am sure of one thing however. Many of his and my mother's gifts were made anonymously."
John Hoover
Born Oct. 13, 1919, Cordova
Died Sept. 3, 2011, near Grapeview, Wash.
Son of a Dutch father and Aleut-Russian mother, John Hoover gained an international reputation for sculpture based on Native Alaska tales and art traditions. His striking contemporary pieces were highly prized by collectors, corporations and museums. He exhibited around the world but was particularly appreciated in his home state, where his large work adorns such facilities as the Egan Center, the Alaska Native Medical Center and the Alaska Native Heritage Center, all in Anchorage.
A commercial fisherman and ski instructor in his earlier years, Hoover told the Daily News that he considered his career as a professional artist began in 1960 when he built a 58-foot seiner in his backyard in Cordova "without much in the way of power tools." When he was finished, he realized that what he had done was much like sculpture and he turned to art.
The iconic yet lively look of the pieces he created, often using a kind of bas-relief on carved wood, sometimes with a hinged or mobile aspect, rapidly gained a following. He moved to a quaint bungalow on the water of Puget Sound where he lived and worked until his death.
In 2002, the Anchorage Museum held a major retrospective of his work. In May 2011, the University of Alaska Anchorage awarded him an honorary doctorate.
In addition to creating art, Hoover was also an avid collector, particularly of Alaska Native art pieces, baskets, ivory pieces and old miniature totem poles originally made for the tourist trade.
He once pointed me toward a century-old pole by Southeast carver Jones "Skultas" Yeltatsie. "Skultas said, 'When you make a really good totem, if you wink at it, it winks back at you,' " Hoover remarked. "And this one really does."
You might say the same thing about some of his own pieces.
Maryann "Arnaucuaq" Sundown
Born Oct. 2, 1918, Ing'erriak
Died Oct. 26, 2011, Scammon Bay
A stooped, wiry, wrinkled Yup'ik great-great-grandmother with a deadpan face, lively eyes and an infectious laugh, Maryann Sundown was dubbed "the Dance Diva" for her performances of traditional Eskimo dance. She was probably the most popular dancer in Alaska, particularly known for comedy that often poked fun at popular culture. The "Bruce Lee Dance" included imitation kickboxing and kung-fu. The "Cigarette Dance" mocked Hollywood stars savoring their smokes. Her version of "The Macarena" invariably brought down the house.
Even in her 90s, she had continued to delight audiences, performing at the big Cama-i dance festival in Bethel last spring.
Sundown's dancing was an accurate reflection of her personality, said her son Harley Sundown. "It spoke to her ability to connect with people and make people feel special. I've been reading an article about bucket-fillers, people who fill others with joy and confidence. She was a bucket-filler of people."
Sundown often performed with her teasing cousin, Agnes Aguchak, who died in 2009. Though a standing ovation is nearly unheard of at Yup'ik dance events, the crowd of 1,000 or more who packed the Bethel High School gym to catch the pair regularly rose to their feet, shouting and whistling as they applauded.
In private life, she was an industrious homemaker, adept at skinning a seal, stitching a kuspuk or ceremonial dance headpiece from fur, or whipping up a bowl of akutaq -- then relaxing in front of the television set.
The award-winning book "Yupiit Yuraryarait: Yup'ik Ways of Dancing" (University of Alaska Press), by Theresa John and Ann Fienup-Riordan, concludes with a remarkable series of photos of her and Aguchak in performance taken by James Barker. They can be viewed at adn.com/artsnob.
Reach Mike Dunham at mdunham@adn.com or 257-4332.
Mike Dunham
mdunham@adn.com