A week and a half ago I had the opportunity to go into Bethel for the last art retreat of the year. This one focused on Native arts. I was a little nervous going in. I'm not the most talented person, so I was worried about how my art would turn out.
I was pleasantly surprised that the activities were geared to use in the classroom teaching students. This was good news to me because I should be able handle an art project meant for a 10-year-old! They split us into four groups and explained that there would be four sessions: beading, weaving, sewing, and carving. Each one took a half day to complete.
This is a spoon I carved using a Haida (another Native Alaskan culture) knife. The most difficult part of this was holding the knife correctly. You had to hold the knife in your palm facing up with the point on the opposite side of your thumb and pull the blade toward you. Our instructor claimed it was safer. This is probably true, but it wasn't easier. This was probably the hardest craft because I had never carved anything ever before. The head was supposed to be round, but you can see mine looks more like a stop sign. Of course, I did better than some. One guy carved the bowl part so deeply that he went right through and put a hole in the middle of his spoon!
This is a Yup'ik yo-yo. Traditionally, it's made of leather, animal skin, and sewn together with caribou sinew. Mine is made with leather, fake calf skin (not native to the area), and imitation sinew. Basically the thread is a waxy string. I sewed the two little mittens with brown leather on one side and calf skin on the other. When the workshop was almost over, we were supposed to try out our yo-yos. So, I asked the carving instructor for help because you don't use them like Lower 48 yo-yos. He started to try it and the one end fell off! Evidently, my sewing was not very tight. Live and learn I guess!
This is the basket that I wove. Traditionally, this would be made of grass, but ours were yarn. I think this might be the best (or second best) product I made. It took me awhile to get the hang of it, especially when I started weaving backwards. The instructor had a hard time getting me to do it right, but I learned!
This is a Yup'ik dance necklace. The brown stone looking things were traditionally made of bone (ours were plastic). I think this is my favorite thing that I made. It would be worn during Yup'ik dances. I think the most interesting thing I learned during this retreat was that this was a common time for women to talk and socialize. In many ways, this was the most enjoyable art retreat I have been to. I learned about how tough it was to complete these in an untraditional way, let alone with caribou sinew and hide! Enjoy the pictures!
