News Room: Announcements

Sheldon Jackson Museum 2025 Visiting Artist Program and NEA Grant Award

SITKA – The Sheldon Jackson Museum is pleased to announce that the Friends of Sheldon Jackson Museum have been awarded a grant in the amount of $25,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts. The award was issued through the Art Works II Grant in the category of Folk & Traditional Arts. Applications for the Art Works II grants were submitted to the Arts Endowment last year and reflected the wide range of performances, exhibitions, and activities that the agency has traditionally funded.

In the popular Friends of Sheldon Jackson Museum-sponsored Native Artist Residency Program, artists from around the state participate in residencies at the museum, during which time they study the collections, provide cultural consultations to museum staff, and share their work with the public through artist lectures, hands-on workshops, and demonstrations.

This year, from mid-June until mid-October, the museum is hosting a series of five artists-in-residence:

• Unangax̂ relief print maker and acrylic painter Liz Chikayaasix̂  Morrow (June 17-July 3)
• Yup’ik ivory, baleen, and wood jewelry maker Shirley Hootch (July 16-Aug. 4)
• Yup’ik & Curyung Tribe bead worker and graphic artist Amber Webb (August 11-31)
• Koyukon Athabascan, Unangax̂, and Inupiaq painter and seal gut jewelry maker Danielle Larsen (September 2-20)
• Tlingit Chilkat Weaver Anna Brown Ehlers (September 23-October 14)

This year’s residency program includes:

• a public class on relief printing with Liz Morrow (Unangax̂)
• artist talks by Liz Morrow on June 20 & 27 and July 3
• a two-part maskette earring making class with Shirley Hootch (Yup’ik) on July 18 & 25 
• an artist talk by Shirley Hootch on August 1
• a fish skin earring making class with Amber Webb (Yup’ik & Curyung Tribe) on August 15
• an artist talk by Amber Webb on August 29
• a painting still life class with Danielle Larsen (Koyukon Athabascan, Unangax̂, & Inupiaq) on September 11
• artist talks by Danielle Larsen on September 18 and September 19
• an artist talk by Anna Brown Ehlers (Tlingit) on September 26
• a weaving class with Anna Brown Ehlers on October 10

Classes are free, but some require that you order materials online in advance. Some classes have age restrictions. For more details or materials lists, call (907) 747-8981. To view events related to the Native Artist Residency Program, visit the Friends of Sheldon Jackson Museum, the Friends Facebook page, or the Sheldon Jackson Museum website.

The Native Artist Residency Program is made possible through the support of the National Endowment for the Arts, Alaska Airlines, the Friends of the Sheldon Jackson Museum, and private donations. Learn more about how you can support the residency program.