Alutiiq sisters make art where they find it

June 28th 11:42 am | Trina Landlord    

Alutiiq sisters Lena Amason and Anna Nelson are the featured contemporary artists for the months of July and August at the Alaska Native Arts Foundation in downtown Anchorage. Their show is titled "Kitoi to Sitkalidak," which covers the breadth of the subsistence activities that make up their artwork, which illustrates animals and sea life. Kitoi is a fishing area located on the north end of Kodiak Island where Anna lives; her photographs portray a salmon opener from her home village of Port Lions, population 300. Sitkalidak is an island to the east of Old Harbor where Lena lives. They said that the stories they heard or experienced while out on skiff rides, beach picnics, berry-picking, smoking and canning fish, clam digging, hunting and commercial fishing make up who they are as people.

Lena studied at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, where she was exposed to a robust Yup'ik dance culture, which included contemporary masked dance performances.

"At about the same time, I learned that Kodiak Island once had a rich masked dancing tradition," she said. "Since then, I have worked hard to re-establish this tradition in a way that is relevant and connects with our modern village values."

Through working with various dance groups, she's seen the power of traditional dance and contemporary masks to connect people to their culture. Through her art, she creates works that reflect not just traditional values but the idea of community and home and modernity.

"In my work, I am concerned with creating objects and paintings which represent these stories and moments. Years spent commercial fishing around Kodiak Island have provided me with endless visual material of ocean life and a vibrant color pallet. I consistently work with materials and images that are directly related to our rural maritime lifestyle."

She paints with acrylics, then oils on various types of wood, such as birch plywood panels and yellow or red cedar. Her favorite kind of wood to paint on is driftwood from the beach and wood that is salvaged from old wooden boats or fallen down gear sheds that already have some weather worn paint to play off of. She likes to frame her pieces with strips of colored buoy that can be found in various discarded fishing gear piles around the local harbor. She also uses Plexiglas from old fishing boats, baleen, seal and sea lion whiskers and beads.

Anna grew up by the ocean and spent countless hours exploring and playing on the beach. Her earliest memories are filled with the beauty and erratic intensity of salmon fishing with her father on his 39-foot salmon seiner. "Out on the boat I got to experience the beauty and vastness of the ocean," she said. "At home I was immersed in the arts, provided with art materials, and encouraged to express and create."

Anna's use of photography is a means of self-expression. She makes pictures for herself to express her interpretation of the world around her. She is inspired to compose by the contrast of light and dark, while using the changing light of the day. She finds herself interested in the results of immersing in the story and recording her own actions and reactions.

The exhibit will be on display until Aug. 31.

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Trina Landlord is a writer for the Alaska Native Arts Foundation. She can be reached at trina@alaskanativearts.org