Alaska Native Masks

Abstract

Special guests Sven Haakanson, Alvin Amason, Ann Fienup-Riordan, and Anna Mossolova come together to share their intimate knowledge and study of Alaska Native masks. The nature of masks within expressions of animal symbolism and transformation, and Alaska Native mask collections abroad will be discussed. Introducing the guest speakers will be Maria Shaa Tla Williams, director of Alaska Native Studies at UAA. Sven Haakanson is former Executive Director of the Alutiiq Museum in Kodiak, Alaska. His book, Giinaquq: Like a Face, Sugpiaq Masks of the Kodiak Archipelago features the Alphonse Pinart ceremonial mask collection. He currently teaches at the University of Washington, and is a curator of the Native American Exhibitions at the Burk Museum. Renowned artist Alvin Eli Amason is a Sugpiaq Alaskan painter and sculptor. His paintings are on display at the Anchorage International Airport and have been exhibited at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Heard Museum, and museums throughout Alaska. After spending 17 years as the Director of Native Arts program at UAF, he is currently developing a Native arts program at UAA. Cultural anthropologist Ann Fienup-Riordan is author of more than 20 books and translations including Yup'ik Elders at the Ethnologisches Museum Berlin: Fieldwork Turned on its Head. Her books Agayuliyararput (Our Way of Making Prayer): The Living Tradition of Yup'ik Masks and Yuungnaqpiallerput (The Way We Genuinely Live): Masterworks of Yup'ik Science and Survival accompanied museum exhibitions in Alaska and Washington, DC. Anna Mossolova is a visiting Fulbright student researcher at the UAA Anthropology Department and Alaska Native Studies program. Her interest include studying Yup'ik mask collections in Europe and Russia and researching Yup'ik mask-making traditions.