ASM Exhibitions & Events
Protection: Adaptation & Resistance centers Indigenous ways of knowing
Friday, May 3
Exhibit opening 4:30–7:00 pm
- Lecture at 7:00 pm
Exhibit curator Asia Freeman will lead a discussion with artists Amber Webb, K’asheechtlaa Louise Brady, Lily Wooshkindein Da.áat Hope, and Rico Lanaat’ Worl.
Sunday, May 5
- Exhibit walk-through at 11:00 am
with Amber Webb and K’asheechtlaa Louise Brady
Fish Skin Medicine Pouch Workshop at 1:30 pm.
On this National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons, activist and artist Amber Webb will lead a workshop for the community affected by this crisis. Please call (907) 465-8187 to sign up.
About the Exhibit
Alaska’s Indigenous artists invigorate traditional stories and propose resilient new futures through design, tattoo, regalia, and graphic arts.
Working within intergenerational learning groups and as collaborators in vibrant community networks, Alaska’s Indigenous artists are invigorating traditional stories in customary arts and proposing resilient futures through design, tattoo, regalia, and graphic arts. Artist projects elevate collaboration, allyship, and community as tools of resistance, adaptation, and cultural affirmation. The exhibition explores three themes: Land and Culture Protectors, Activists for Justice and Sovereignty, and Resilient Futures.
“Our lifeways, material culture, and protocols serve as armor to resist efforts to exterminate us. They are rooted in the power to unite and create space for all people. When we break down the efforts of those who work to silo, segregate, and discriminate, there is space for all people and all living things.” – Joel Isaak (Dena’ina, Kenai)
Protection is organized by the Bunnell Street Arts Center and made possible with support from the National Endowment for the Arts, CIRI Foundation, Alaska Community Foundation, Rasmuson Foundation, Alaska Humanities Forum, and the Atwood Foundation.
Learn more at Bunnell Arts.
Image: Kaxhatjaa X’óow/Herring Protectors. Photo by Caitlin Blaisdell.
Skin-on-Frame Qayaq
Lou Logan is making a qayaq (kayak) in the tradition of his Iñupiaq ancestors from Wales, Alaska. He is studying a qayaq frame in the museum’s collection and constructing his open-sea qayaq in the gallery.
Images: Lou Logan. Photo by Molly Briggs. Logan’s iqyax^ (Unangan kayak), 2020. Photo courtesy of Lou Logan.
XX: Twenty Years of Alaskan Art
XX: Twenty Years of Alaskan Art is a new exhibition at the Alaska State Museum featuring the work of contemporary Alaskan artists. The exhibit opens Friday, March 1.
The museum acquired these pieces over the last twenty years though the generosity of the Rasmuson Foundation’s Alaska Art Fund.
Initiated in 2003, the Alaska Art Fund provides grants for Alaska museums to purchase current work by practicing Alaskan artists.
Thanks to the Fund, the Alaska State Museum has brought over 200 works of art valued at nearly half a million dollars into its permanent collection—the most significant donation over time, in terms of dollar value, in the museum’s 124-year history.
The Alaska Art Fund is managed by Museums Alaska and has donated over $6.7 million dollars to museums statewide for the purchase of art.