The Sheldon Jackson Museum is pleased to announce that the Alaska Native artists for this year’s Alaska Native Artist Residency Program, a program funded with support from the Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic (LEX-NG) Fund and Friends of Sheldon Jackson Museum, have been selected.
This summer, the LEX-NG grant will be used to support four Alaska Native artists-in-residence who will work in the Sheldon Jackson Museum gallery and, provide free hands-on classes teaching their art forms, give lectures, engage with visitors, share their process through creating artwork at the museum, and provide the museum with material culture consultations on artifacts in the permanent collection. While creating in an open-studio sort of setting, the artists will discuss their techniques, inspiration, methodologies, and share information about their art and themselves to connect museums visitors to their culture. Artists will also be paid to study the Sheldon Jackson Museum’s permanent collection on exhibit and in collections storage, providing them a chance to examine material culture created by their ancestors and share insight and knowledge about artifacts with museum staff. The information captured in the consultations will be recorded in the museum records, adding to staff and public knowledge about the collection.
The Alaska Native Artist Residency Program this summer will include four artists. Participating artists include Yup’ik elder and culture bearer Chuna McIntyre; Alutiiq and Inupiaq gut skin sewer, beader, regalia maker, and Aleut or Unangan style basket weaver June Pardue (May 15th-June 5th); Tsimshian carver and silver engraver Abel Ryan (June 7th-July 20th); and Neva Mathias, Cup’ik doll maker and grass basket weaver (Aug. 22nd-Sept. 12th) Abel Ryan will be co-hosted by the museum with the Sitka Fine Arts Camp.
In addition to artists creating their art in the gallery or lobby areas and studying the museum’s permanent collection, this year’s residency program will include a variety of artist-led lectures and hands-on-classes all held at the Sheldon Jackson Museum at 104 College Drive in Sitka. The special artist-residency events include: an artist talk by Chuna McIntyre on May 4th at 3pm exploring how Yup’ik culture and a collection of Yup’ik masks inspired French modern artist Henri Matisse; an artist talk entitled, “Gut Skin Sewing Techniques” on May 18th at 3pm by June Pardue; an intensive multi-day Gut Skin Sewing Class taught by June Pardue from 10am-1pm and 2:30- 3:30pm on Fridays and Saturdays including May 17, 18, 24th, 25th, and the 31st; an Artist Residency Recap Talk with June Pardue on June 1st at 3pm; a two-part drum-making class with Abel Ryan at 2pm on Saturday, June 8th and Saturday, June 15th; an artist talk entitled, “My First Totem Pole” by Abel Ryan on July 20th at 3pm; a multi-day intensive doll-making class taught by Neva Mathias from 10am until noon and 1pm until 4pm on Thursday, August 29th, Tuesday, September 3rd, Wednesday, September 4th, Thursday, September 5th, Friday, September 6th, and Saturday, September 7th; and an Artist Residency Recap Talk with Neva Mathias on September 7th at 3pm.
All of the classes require advance registration and for students to obtain materials prior to the first day. Some classes have age and space limitations. For the materials list and to sign up or for any further details on the residency program, including days and times artists are working in the museum, people may call (907) 747-8981.
To view events related to the Native Artist Residency Program, visit the Friends of Sheldon Jackson Museum Facebook page or the Alaska State Museum website at http://museums.alaska.gov/sheldon_jackson/sjnativedemos.html .
The Native Artist Residency Program is made possible through the support of the Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic (LEX-NG) Fund, Sitka Fine Arts Camp, Alaska Airlines, the Friends of the Sheldon Jackson Museum, and private donations.
Summer hours at the Sheldon Jackson Museum 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m, daily except holidays. Summer admission is $7 for adults and $6 for seniors. Visitors 18 and under are admitted free of charge. Assistance is available for visitors with special needs. Please contact the museum for more information at 907.747.8981.
museums.alaska.gov/sheldon_jackson/
907.747.8981
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