Forum - Fall 2013

THE M AGA ZINE OF THE AL AS K A HUM ANITIES FORUM

FA L L / W I N T E R 2 013

Clark James Mishler’s Portrait Project | Cameras for the Homeless | Historic Killisnoo Images

LETTER FROM THE CEO

Celebrating and Re-Visioning I

t has been just more than one year since I joined the team at the Alaska Humanities Forum in what has proved an exhilarating and innovative time for our organization. All of our programs have demonstrated marked success over the last year. But there are two in particular we invite you to engage as active members of the humanities community.

The Anchorage Centennial Celebration Project

The Alaska Humanities Forum is excited to partner with the Municipality of Anchorage and the Rasmuson Foundation to provide fiscal and programmatic oversight of the Anchorage Centennial.

The Forum is overseeing more than a million dollars of funding for this project, which includes three legacy projects – the Anchorage Centennial Commemorative Book, Documentary and Online Archive/ App. We also will provide community grants for a diverse set of projects that will promote, educate and celebrate the first 100 years of Anchorage. For information on how you may get involved in the Anchorage Centennial Celebration including how to apply for an Anchorage Centennial Community Grant, please visit akhf.org or see the story on page 9. We thank both the Municipality of Anchorage and the Rasmuson Foundation for their generous support.

Re-Visioning the Alaska Governor’s Awards

The Alaska Humanities Forum, Alaska State Council on the Arts, the Arts and Culture Foundation and the Governor’s Office have jointly sponsored the Governor’s Awards for the Arts and Humanities since 2001. The awards honor significant achievements by Alaskan artists, writers, historians, scholars, humanities and arts institutions, and other contributors to the arts and humanities in Alaska. In the past, the Governor’s Awards ceremony has been held as a traditional banquet located in Anchorage or Fairbanks in late October.

However, this year the Alaska Humanities

2

A L A S K A H U M A N I T I E S F O R U M FA L L / W I NTE R 2013

Forum and the Alaska State Council on the Arts have developed a new vision and format for the Governor’s Awards.

This year’s awards ceremony will be held in Juneau on January 30, 2014, to coincide with the state legislative session. It is our intent to make this celebration of the arts and humanities a public event in a new venue, as well as an opportunity to inform state legislators and elected officials about the positive impact of arts and humanities projects across the state.

We also will transition to a new ceremony format, combining artist and humanities grantee performances with award presentations in a theater setting, thus broadening our audience and creating a more dynamic event. Tickets will be offered at a reduced rate.

The Governor’s Awards will be held in conjunction with an Arts and Humanities Advocacy Week with the Alaska State Legislature. We are developing a coordinated message for statewide arts and humanities organizations to deliver to their state legislators during this week. We believe this new format for the Governor’s Awards will provide the Alaska Humanities Forum an opportunity to share the great work of Alaskans in the arts and humanities with both a broader and more targeted audience.

Nominations for the Arts and Humanities Awards are currently open and any member of the public is welcome to nominate an individual or organization.

All nominations are due by November 15, 2013. For more information, including online nomination forms, please visit akhf.org.

ALASKA HUMANITIES FORUM 161 East First Avenue, Door 15 Anchorage, Alaska 99501 (907) 272-5341 | www.akhf.org board of directors Joan Braddock, Chair, Fairbanks Ben Mohr, Vice Chair, Eagle River Evan D. Rose, Treasurer, Anchorage Dave Kiffer, Member-At-Large, Ketchikan Mary K. Hughes, J.D., Former Chair, Anchorage Jeane Breinig, Anchorage Christa Bruce, Ketchikan Michael Chmielewski, Palmer John Cloe, Anchorage Dermot Cole, Fairbanks Ernestine Hayes, Juneau Nancy Kemp, Kodiak Catkin Kilcher Burton, Anchorage Scott McAdams, Sitka Pauline Morris, Kwethluk Wayne Stevens, Juneau Kurt Wong, C.P.A., Anchorage

STAFF Nina Kemppel, CEO Susy Buchanan, Grants Program Director Laurie Evans-Dinneen RURE Programs Director Kitty Farnham Leadership Anchorage Program Manager Liza Root, Office Manager Matthew Turner Special Projects Coordinator Carmen Davis, C3 Project Manager Jonathan Samuelson Take Wing Alaska Project Coordinator Gregory Moses Take Wing Alaska Family School Liaison Veldee Hall RURE Sister School Exchange Project Manager Dustin Hauptli Project Associate

Finally, I want to thank all of you that donated to the Forum during the last year. Your contributions have a significant impact on the programs and projects that we provide and helped the Forum to use the humanities to tell the stories and impact the lives of all Alaskans.

— Nina Kemppel, CEO

Forum is a publication of the Alaska Humanities Forum, supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, with the purpose of increasing public understanding of and participation in the humanities. The views expressed by contributors are not necessarily those of the editorial staff, the Alaska Humanities Forum, or the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Subscriptions may be obtained by contributing to the Alaska Humanities Forum or by contacting the Forum. No part of this publication may be reproduced without permission. ©2013.

Printed in Alaska.

THE M AGA ZINE OF THE AL AS K A HUM ANITIES FORUM

FA L L / W I N T E R 2 013

FORUM COVER: Barrow whaling captain Freddie Tuckfield on the Delaney Park Strip during a visit to Anchorage.

Photo by Clark James Mishler.

10 A Call to Look

CONTENTS

The Brother Francis Shelter in Anchorage provided cameras and photography training to a group of homeless clients. They returned with art.

Letter from CEO Nina Kemppel

2 Celebrating and Re-Visioning Grant RepoRT

4 Kwethluk Children’s Home Project ANCHORAGE CENTENNIAL

9 Call for Grant Applications PROGRAM NOTES

35 New Leadership Anchorage Director 36 New Teachers Learn about Native Culture Poetry

20 A Russian American Photographer in Tlingit Country

38 Where I’m From Forum Publication

42 Brian Adams’ I Am Alaskan from the archives / In memoriam

46 Barbara Sweetland Smith, 1936–2013 Grant Report

48 Trails across Time EVENTS

50 First Friday @ the Forum

26 The Quest of Clark James Mishler

PHOTO CREDITS: TOP, COLLEEN. MIDDLE, VINCENT SOBOLEFF. RIGHT, CLARK JAMES MISHLER

GRANT REPORT

Kwethluk Children’s Home Project

By Derba McKinney

K

atie Baldwin Basile’s first memory of the long-abandoned Kwethluk Children’s Home, or “the orphanage” as locals sometimes call it, comes from a trip 20 years ago with family and friends. Their small flotilla motored a half hour upriver from her hometown of Bethel, then took a right off the lower Kuskokwim River and headed into the muddy and meandering Kuskokuak Slough. Three miles beyond the village of Kwethluk, Basile remembers coming around a wide bend and watching these ghostly, weathered buildings rise from the tundra, as incongruous with the landscape as skyscrapers in a cornfield.

“It struck me as really odd,” she recalls. “It’s just tundra and river forever, and all of the sudden these western style buildings, they just shoot up out of nowhere.”

Once the boats were anchored, she and the others scrambled up a steep cut bank and walked along a gap-toothed boardwalk toward a little Moravian church with a bell tower and a smattering of other buildings, some threestories tall, in various stages of decline from decades of neglect, vandalism and beatings by weather. Basile, who was 10 at the time, remembers that day in June being gray and misty. She remembers the tundra smelling of Labrador tea and the buildings of mildew and decay. She remembers exploring the boys’ dorm and the hollow resonance of its wooden floor beneath her feet. She remembers how a friend’s little brother fell partway

4

A L A S K A H U M A N I T I E S F O R U M FA L L / W I NTE R 2013

The Forum supports an effort to document in stories and photographs a place of cultural transition

through the floorboards, and how, as grownups pulled him to safety, she and her girlfriends ran out screaming.

What stuck with her then, as it still does now, was how eerie the place felt.

It looked empty, but felt inhabited. Inside a tent that night, listening to ghost stories and a reading of “The Cremation of Sam McGee” didn’t calm her nerves.

As spooked as she was, the orphanage kept drawing her back. And the more she returned, the more questions she had about its place in history.

The home, shuttered since the early 1970s, started taking in children in the late 1920s. Many of them had lost their parents to influenza and other post-contact diseases. In its later years, funded by the Moravian church and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the “orphanage” operated more as a boarding school and a home for children whose families couldn’t care for them.

In 2008, after earning a degree in photojournalism with a minor in anthropology from the University of Montana, Basile started bringing along her camera to capture the home’s stark imagery—fireweed peeking in through broken windows; an old school desk sitting abandoned in the snow, pages of a book fanned open by the wind; a tattered nightgown hanging from a cur-

tain rod; a mattress oozing its stuffing; a half empty bag of DDT. More recently, backed by a $4,500 grant from the Alaska Humanities Forum, Basile has been gathering stories from people who lived at the Kwethluk Children’s Home. Many of them are now elders living in communities along the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. Through her Kwethluk Children’s Home project, she is documenting this remnant of the past, a symbol of a time of great transition for Yup’ik people as they found themselves confronted with new belief systems, new ways of doing things and new and deadly European diseases.

“Growing up in the painful wake of Western assimilation has left me searching for meaning in this clash of cultures,” writes Basile, who now lives in Oregon, works as a photographer and teaches photography and digital storytelling to youth and adults. “On trips home to Alaska, I visit the orphanage.

Scouring the wreckage for treasures, stories and answers.”

To share the home’s story with her community, and with the world, she’s creating a multimedia website with web designer Erica Rudy. The site will feature a digital story with her photographs, audio clips from her interviews, video clips and portraits of former residents.

Once used by children at the Kwethluk Children’s Home, a desk now sits abandoned outside the boys’ dormitory. Katie Basile

A L A S K A H U M A N ITI E S F O R U M FA L L / W I N T E R 20 13

5

GRANT REPORT The sons of the home’s former superintendent, Joel and Jim Henkelman, now living in Homer and Nikiski, respectively, have offered shared rights to hundreds of historical photographs, old film footage and the use of their father’s self-published memoir for the project.

‘Oh my god, this legend I was always hearing about as a child was an actual person. He wasn’t just a spirit or a rural myth. He was a real boy who lived here, and he had a story.’

— Katie Basile

6

A L A S K A H U M A N I T I E S F O R U M FA L L / W I NTE R 2013

The Moravian Church, founded in 1457 in what’s now the Czech Republic, first sent missionaries to Alaska at the urging of Presbyterian Minister Sheldon Jackson to “Christianize the Eskimo people of Alaska.” After exploring the Yukon-Kuskokwim area, the Moravians chose Mumtrekhlagamute, meaning “smokehouse people.” For the church they would eventually build, they chose a site across the river and called the place Bethel, meaning “a sacred area” or “house of God.” The Moravians’ held their first public worship service in Alaska there in 1885.

Growing up downriver from the children’s home, Basile first became aware of its existence through the story of Gabriel Fox, a boy who had run away from the home in 1968, and was never seen again—not in human form, anyway. Or so the story goes.

One version is that the boy has been wandering the tundra ever since as a half-human, half-animal being, a wild child stuck between two worlds. He’s not a ghost, but has become so light he can walk on the tops of trees and hop across wide rivers. “Cillem quellra” is the Yup’ik term for those who get lost on the tundra and fall into this state: “Made cold by the universe.” To this day people along the Delta report Gabriel Fox sightings. And he still gets blamed when things go missing or fish or meat disappears from people’s caches.

“People would always say, ‘Watch out for Gabriel Fox,’ Basile said. “Or, ‘You’d better be home on time or Gabriel Fox will get you.’”

Basile always assumed it was just a story parents told to keep their kids on the straight and narrow. But during one of her visits to the children’s home, she was taking photographs inside the old superintendent’s house when she came

across a typewritten letter to Bishop Edwin Kortz. In the last paragraph Clarence Henkelman had written: “Our missing boy Gabriel Fox still has not been found. He was seen around Kwethluk a number of times but has not been seen for over a week. All the neighboring villages have been alerted, but no reports have come on having seen him.”

As she held the letter in her hands, a chill ran down her spine.

“It was, oh my god, this legend I was always hearing about as a child was an actual person. He wasn’t just a spirit or a rural myth. He was a real boy who lived here, and he had a story. That’s when I thought, ‘I’m going to turn this into something.’”

Basile never takes anything from the site, so she left the letter where she found it. She’s glad she photographed it, though, because the next time she was there it was gone.

Basile has since talked to the social worker who accompanied the boy to the children’s home, and has read her account of the story. She now knows Gabriel Fox was 13 years old when a judge sent him and his two younger sisters to the home due to parental neglect. She knows now that search parties looked for him for a week, on the ground and from the air, until blizzards put an end to their efforts.

Among former children’s home residents Basile has interviewed is a man who claimed he was there the night Gabriel ran away.

“He told me Gabriel Fox woke him that night and said, ‘I’m going to take off, you should come with me.’” The man told Basile he refused to go yet watched the boy climb out the window.

He told her he saw him run across the tundra and disappear behind a spruce tree. And he meant, “disappear.”

The Hickelman sons told Basile their father received a phone message sometime in the ‘80s from a hospital in California on behalf of a man claiming to be Gabe Fox. But their father was never able to reach the man so he never knew whether it was a hoax.

Certain pragmatists have yet another version of the Fox story. The boy ran off

at a time when the river ice was thin, and the easiest way back home to his mother in Bethel would have been to follow the river.

Basile said she went into this project with an open mind, but wanting to know the impact the home made on Yup’ik children’s lives. It may have provided structure during turbulent times, but at what cultural cost?

“The kids were not with their parents or grandparents, they were sitting in school desks learning English and Christianity,” she said. “But the kids also fished for their own food, picked berries and hunted. They practiced subsistence. A lot of the food they ate came from the land. People from the communities stopped in. There was an effort to incorporate Native culture.”

Still, she wondered if children suffered. During one interview, the woman started to cry. Basile braced herself to hear “something terrible.” Instead, the

woman described seeing a Christmas tree inside the home for the first time and how it was the most beautiful thing she’d seen in her life.

Another former resident, who’d lost his father to tuberculosis, told her it was tough at the home, that he couldn’t have his way all the time. It gave him an authority and a discipline he had never known. But he liked it there, he told her, and felt well cared for, like part of a big family. When Basile asked him to sum up his experience in one word, the word he chose was “love.”

“I’ve heard of people going there and stacking books back up on the shelves or sweeping up the church,” Basile said.

“They clean up just a little bit, which I think is really nice. It speaks to the respect people have for the place.”

Eva Malvich, director and curator of Bethel’s Yupiit Piciryarait Museum, is planning an exhibit dedicated to Basile’s project next summer, with an opening reception and community potluck in June.

A view of the interior of the chapel at the Kwethluk Children’s Home. A vacuum cleaner is often found in various places throughout the property, most often on the altar of the chapel. Katie Basile

A L A S K A H U M A N ITI E S F O R U M FA L L / W I N T E R 20 13

7

GRANT REPORT

A view of the boys’ dorm at the Kwethluk Children’s Home. Katie Basile

A textbook sits in the attic of the superintendent’s house at the abandoned Kwethluk Children’s Home. Katie Basile

8

A L A S K A H U M A N I T I E S F O R U M FA L L / W I NTE R 2013

“It will be a perfect time because the king salmon will be running,” Malvich said. “What a great way to open the exhibit, with fresh fish.”

Like many local people with connections to the home, Malvich has an uncle who spent time there while his father was away for work. Another is Ana Hoffman, president and CEO of Bethel Native Corporation. She had a great-uncle who was there briefly, until a relative showed up unannounced in a qayaq to take him downriver to live with an aunt.

The qayaq, or kayak, had only one cockpit so her great-uncle got stuffed into the front under the deck. And off they went downriver, past Bethel, all the way to Tuntutuliak.

“I asked him, how did you feel when this person came to pick you up, and he said he was disappointed. I asked why, and he said, ‘If I had stayed at the orphanage I would have been a smart man today.’

“Whenever I go up to the children’s home, after hearing that story, I always picture my great-uncle, who lived to be 92, as a little boy being loaded in the qayaq and paddled downriver.

“I’m glad she’s doing this,” Hoffman said of Basile’s project. Hoffman said Basile’s understanding of Yup’ik culture and values is “a priceless asset to this project.

“Living here on the river, when you go by the children’s home, when you approach it, you immediately get a sense of the value of the place. You know, there are a lot of stories there.”

Basile wants to collect as many of those stories as she can before they go the way of the old buildings. Each time she visits a little more of the place is gone. The climate hasn’t been kind. And people take things, move things around and leave their names all over, making their presence known. Just as she felt on her first visit at 10, the place feels empty, but not.

“Even today when I go to take pictures I can’t go by myself,” she said. “It’s an eerie place. And the wind howls. It’s very haunting.” ■

ANCHORAGE CENTENNIAL

President Dwight D. Eisenhower in a parade in Anchorage, 1960.

Jim Ruotsala. P469-2-02-20, Alaska State Library, Jim Ruotsala Photograph Collection

Anchorage Centennial Community Grants A call for grant applications for projects commemorating the first 100 years of Anchorage

A

nchorage Centennial Community Grants opened September 15, with a final proposal deadline of November 15, 2013.

A second cycle of grants is planned to open in April of 2014.

The community grants are supported by a generous $500,000 contribution from Rasmuson Foundation. The Rasmuson Foundation support comes in addition to the important $500,000 allocation that the Municipality of Anchorage provided for the Anchorage Centennial Legacy Projects announced earlier this year and for additional support of the Anchorage Centennial Celebration efforts.

The support of both the Municipality of Anchorage and the Rasmuson Foundation will allow the Alaska Humanities Forum and the Anchorage Centennial project to engage a much broader audience in the historical perspectives, learning experiences and cultural activities surrounding the Anchorage Centennial, and to create a

more enduring platform for educating future generations on the first 100 years of Anchorage.

Centennial Community Grant projects and events can be based in education, arts, humanities, culture and science. Proposals can explore, but are not limited to, archaeology, history, geography, ethics, linguistics, philosophy, folklore studies, political science, cultural anthropology, languages, linguistics, literature, film, religions, sports and recreation, the arts in any form, social sciences, technology or sciences.

Successful proposals will meet one or more of the following objectives: • Focus on a significant aspect or time period of Anchorage history.

• Focus on cultural diversity within the community.

• Educate the community on historical or cultural aspects of the last 100 years in Anchorage.

• Enhance the spirit of community and environment in Anchorage. ■

information

For more information contact Alaska Humanities Forum Grants Officer Susy Buchanan at 907-272-5373 or sbuchanan@akhf.org. online application

To access the Anchorage Centennial Grants online application go to: akhf. cgweb.org. guidelines and details

To download Anchorage Centennial Community Grants guidelines and application details, go to: akhfblog.typepad.com/files/ centennial-guidelines.pdf

A L A S K A H U M A N ITI E S F O R U M FA L L / W I N T E R 20 13

9

‘You see it every day!

You just don’t ever look at it the same.’

A Call to Look

10

A L A S K A H U M A N I T I E S F O R U M FA L L / W I NTE R 2013

Doug

Dispatched with cameras and training, a group of Anchorage’s homeless men and women returns with art

L

isa Caldeira is a Program Manager for Brother Francis Shelter (BFS), which provides emergency shelter, meals, case management and other services for homeless men and women in Anchorage.

Deroy Brandt is a recent graduate of the photography program at University of Alaska Anchorage. Together, they formed a plan earlier this year to put cameras in the hands of Anchorage’s homeless to provide them with the means and training to document

A L A S K A H U M A N ITI E S F O R U M FA L L / W I N T E R 20 13

11

A Call to Look

STACEY

12

A L A S K A H U M A N I T I E S F O R U M FA L L / W I NTE R 2013

homelessness in Anchorage and show others how the world is seen through a hidden community’s eyes.

They called the project “A Call to Look.”

“The idea came from my realizing that the guests of BFS have limited ways in which to express themselves,” said Caldeira. “There are really no creative outlets to speak of—the focus here is finding housing. So I began to look into how the arts might be introduced to the shelter and settled on photography, which is a personal passion.”

Caldeira researched similar projects in other cities, such as Catholic Charities of Chicago’s highly respected After Supper Visions. She spoke directly with the founder of After Supper Visions to “get advice and further insight to starting such a project.”

She then reached out to Deroy through a mutual friend and the pair began organizing A Call to Look. After obtaining permission to base the project at Brother Francis Shelther, they obtained $1,300 in start-up funds through two anonymous donors. Their goal was not simply to provide BFS clients with cameras, but also provide them with formal training by highlevel professionals.

Deroy began coordinating photography workshops and lining up guest instructors while Caldeira handled the administrative and logistical side. They advertised A Call to Look among BFS clients with fliers posted throughout the shelter as well as public announcements.

During the weekly photography workshops, which began in May, Deroy or a guest speaker presented lessons on photography composition, lighting, and other techniques. Afterward, each client of the shelter who attended was provided with a disposable camera that he or she could use to make photographs over the course of the next week.

There were only three rules: no pictures of faces as this could break confidentiality, no pictures on the premises of the shelter, and no pictures of preexisting artwork. In Deroy’s words, “Each participant takes photographs

Doug

STACEY

A L A S K A H U M A N ITI E S F O R U M FA L L / W I N T E R 20 13

13

A Call to Look

Doug

14

A L A S K A H U M A N I T I E S F O R U M FA L L / W I NTE R 2013

that help showcase their day-to-day life.

We hope that these photographs and the stories behind them will allow [the homeless] to show others what is beyond the wall of homelessness.”

A Call to Look was a pilot program, the first of its kind at BFS. The atmosphere was deliberately casual and easygoing so as to be inviting to all. It was Deroy’s first time working with the homeless. His biggest challenge was building relationships with the participants. The population is transient, so it was hard to get people to attend regularly. But when people did show up consistently, he said, “That’s when you can get more in-depth, get them to open up and show their struggles through the pictures they take.”

Attendance grew steadily over the course of the program’s 18 weeks, sometimes drawing ten participants per workshop. The workshops were held every Wednesday evening from May 8 through September 4. They featured eight guest speakers including Richard Murphy, formerly the photo editor for the Anchorage Daily News; Mike Conti, a professor at UAA; and Loren Holmes, a photo journalist and multimedia editor for Alaska Dispatch.

Murphy, who is now the Snedden Chair of Journalism at University of Alaska Fairbanks, presented at two consecutive workshops. At the first one he gave the participants an assignment for the following week which involved photographing their living spaces. He completed the same assignment and the following week showed his own living space photographs as well as those of his participants. “The most interesting thing was the photographs the participants made,” he said. “They showed an intriguing portrait of the city. I’ve seen a lot of photos of Anchorage, but this was a side of Anchorage I had never seen before and it was very interesting to me journalistically.”

Mike Conti, who teaches at UAA and has taught photography to students of many ages and ability levels, also presented at two workshops. In addition to showing some of his own photography to the participants, he presented pho-

COLLEEN

story continued on page 16

A L A S K A H U M A N ITI E S F O R U M FA L L / W I N T E R 20 13

15

Doug

A Call to Look Forum recently interviewed several Brother Francis Shelter clients about their experiences making photographs for A Call to Look. Each of them had a different story, but their stories had a common thread: the personal sense of satisfaction gained through expressing their creativity and documenting their world.

Forum is identifying the photographers by their first names only to protect their anonymity.

16

Colleen , age 52, said

that she sees the world differently from most people. She was an art major in college and has worked in graphic design, so she knows how to look at the world from an artist’s perspective. Her oldest son is a photographer, but in her words, “I’m an artist, not a photographer. I did this project because I wanted a creative outlet.” When she took most of her photos she had a brace on her wrist. She wasn’t able to draw or write, but she could still make photographs.

A L A S K A H U M A N I T I E S F O R U M FA L L / W I NTE R 2013

While participating in A Call to Look, Colleen learned about focusing and framing a picture. She had fun playing with angles. She said, “Sometimes I looked completely crazy, I looked like I was off my rocker…

But it was fun to lie on my back and see things in a new way. You can find beauty in the least likely places, you just have to look.”

“I just went out there and winged it. I’d just crank up the music on my headphones and take pictures.”

Through her photos,

Colleen wants to send the message to viewers that, “Not everyone who’s homeless is a degenerate or an inebriate, it’s just a series of choices, or even just one choice, that can land a person here.”

Colleen’s favorite photos that she’s taken are of places she walks by every day. “When people look at my pictures they ask, ‘Where’d you take that?” and when I tell them they’re always surprised. I tell them, “You see it every day! You just don’t ever look at it the same.’”

DOUG

Doug , age 33, is part

Alaska Native and has lived in Alaska his entire life. He said that as long as he can remember, he has been interested in photography.

He enjoys trying to express topics and images that most Anchorage residents do not usually see. He wants people to have an open mind when they see his photographs and enjoys pointing out the irony and idiosyncrasies in daily life.

Doug said he picked up valuable new techniques in the workshops. For

example, he began taking photos from unexpected angles, and he learned how to achieve different effects with up-close shots and blurring images. He laughed as he talked about one day when he tried to make pictures in a downtown mall.

He was walking around trying to get interesting photos, and someone asked security to make him leave.

“People thought I looked creepy or something,” he chuckled. “But I got a few good photos before they kicked me out.”

Stacey, age 40, took photos in high school for his class yearbook. He wanted to “See if I still have it like I did in high school…I wanted to just go out there and find art, find things to take pictures of. I wanted people to acknowledge what’s really going on in Anchorage.”

Stacey was born in California, but moved to Fairbanks with his dad and siblings and lived in Fairbanks through high school.

He said that he came to Anchorage to get away and see something different.

Through A Call to Look, Stacey said, “I learned how

there’s art everywhere. You just have to see it by looking through different eyes.”

Stacey’s favorite pictures are ones he feels illustrate the causes of homelessness and the results of unhealthy choices.

He said he wants to show people with his pictures that you can always change. A case manager at BFS recently told him “You can only label a jar, not a person.” He wants people to understand that, in his words, “You can’t judge someone if you don’t get to know them first.”

A L A S K A H U M A N ITI E S F O R U M FA L L / W I N T E R 20 13

17

COLLEEN

Doug

A Call to Look exhibition: Photos from A Call to Look will be

exhibited at the Moose A’La Mode coffee house in downtown Anchorage throughout November beginning with a First Friday opening November 1.

FOR information on the A Call to Look proj-

ect, including more photos, visit the project blog at calltolook.wordpress.com

18

A L A S K A H U M A N I T I E S F O R U M FA L L / W I NTE R 2013

tographers whose work he felt spoke to the particular audience. He mentioned a French photographer, called JR, who blows up his pictures and posts them on the streets of cities. JR is often compared to a graffiti artist.

Conti also looked at the photos the participants took, and he said that working with the clients of BFS was “a process of excitement and discovery.”

“I’ve been doing workshops with younger students, and I have taught photography at UAA for years. I’ve worked with beginning photographers of all different ages and backgrounds,” he said. “The clients at Brother Francis were no different from any other beginning students of photography… It was exciting for me to see their different styles and processes of discovery.”

Loren Holmes presented at one Deroy’s first workshops in May. He talked about creative devices used in photography, such as the “rule of thirds,” a compositional guideline photographers use when setting up a shot.

“The participants that were there all seemed genuinely interested in the project and in exploring photography and expressing their personal experience,” Holmes said. “That was very refreshing. While in grad school at Ohio University, I spent some time working with the homeless in Columbus. I did a similar project, handing out disposable cameras, and I didn’t get as positive a response as Deroy was getting. Perhaps it was how he structured the program, but I very much appreciated that.”

Other UAA students and friends of Deroy also contributed to the project, including Jill Ruben, Emily Longbrake, Xenia Vlieger, and Rachel Lee. For Deroy and Caldeira, the end goal of A Call to Look is to present the images to the community in as many venues as possible. “There is a voice besides what the typical passer-by sees,” said Deroy. “Through this project, hopefully people will be able to see past the guy with the cardboard sign, the person lying on the sidewalk... They’ll be able to take something deeper away from these photos, from seeing through the participants’ eyes.” ■

Your support makes all the difference

A

A laska Humanities Forum we tell the stories that define the culture, history and people of Alaska.

t the

We disseminate knowledge and insight into what makes Alaska singular in the world. Through the humanities we reaffirm and celebrate what makes Alaskans unique.

We couldn’t do any of this without you.

Your annual contributions support programs like the Sister School Exchange that promotes cross-cultural understanding and appreciation between Alaska’s youth; and Take Wing Alaska, which provides direction and support for rural teens preparing for post-secondary

FRIENDS Dot and Linne Bardarson Mary Frances Barker Marsha E. Bennett Barbara Brown Brenda L Dates Campen Blanche Crandall Marie Darlin Richard and Nora Dauenhauer Ana Dittmar Louise Driscoll Sherry Eckrich Wendy Erd and Peter Kaufmann Pauline Fredrickson Linda Freed Kay F. Gajewski Rebecca Gallen Louise H. Gallop Michael Hawfield Hellenthal & Associates Kelly Hurd Martha and Brett Jokela Barbara Karl Jun and Chiyo Kawakami Terrence Kelly J. Allen Kemplen Carolyn Sue Kremers Nancy Lord Cheryl and Mark Lovegreen Scott McAdams Mildred M. Martin Nancy M. Mendenhall Peter Metcalfe Kenneth Miller Elisabeth Moorehead Glenna L Muncy James and Irene Norcross Adam Ottavi Bruce and Meredith Parham Lee Post Charles Reynolds

Giving is easy

pursuits. Your support allows Leadership Anchorage to develop our next generation of leaders at the community, state and even national level.

Your generosity also helps us fund humanities projects across the state, projects that help us to undersatand as Alaskans where we came from, who we are and what we want to become.

In short, your contribution to the Alaska Humanities Forum is a contribution to the very essence of what defines Alaska – its people and its cultures.

Lorraine (Alice) Ryser Clifford and Marjorie Salisbury Juan San Miguel Wendell Shiffler Sean Stitham Jim Stratton Robert Strick Brit Szymoniak Jonathan Teeters Alan Traut Deidre C Watt Amanda R Watt Tonja J. Woelber DONORS Wilfred and Sharon Abbott Cynthia Berger Mary Margaret and Charles Bingham Joan Braddock Jeane Breinig Christa Bruce Lisa Butler Annie Calkins Michael Chmielewski Dermot Cole Carol S Comeau Jerry and Sandy Covey Sharon Davis Brenda and George Dickison Melinda Evans Pat Branson and Gordon Gould Joe Griffith Ernestine Hayes Karen L Hunt Tim and Donna Hurley ME and DP Inman Sara Jackinsky Diane Kaplan Dave Kiffer Catkin Kilcher-Burton

Go to www.akhf.org and click on the donate button.

Or, send a check to Alaska Humanities Forum 161 E. 1st Ave., Door 15 Anchorage, AK 99501

James and Mary Lou King Janet R. Klein Marc and Sandra Langland David and Marilyn Lee Peter Maassen Jordan Marshall Blythe Marston Scott McAdams David and Janet McCabe Dennis McMillian Ben Mohr Pauline Morris John Mouw Anthony and Lynette Nakazawa Peter Neyhart David Nicolai Becky Patterson-Turner Jim and Susan Pfeiffenberger John R Pugh John and Carolyn Rader Angela Ramirez John Roderick Kathy Ruddy Tim and Alice Samuelson Gregory Schmidt Alan Schmitt Ken and Liz Sherwood Michael Smith Wayne Stevens Arliss Sturgulewski Vicki Wisenbaugh Charles Wohlforth Kurt Wong

Steve Lindbeck Barbro Lyon Harry Need BENEFACTORS John Cloe Mary K. Hughes Jonathon Lack Denali Kemppel Cathryn Rasmuson Evan D. Rose CORPORATE BRONZE Afognak Native Corporation Apple Agnew & Beck Consulting LLC Bean’s Cafe Inc. Bristol Bay Native Corporation Filipino Community Club of Ketchikan Frances & David Rose Foundation KPMG John Hughes Foundation Kuskokwim Corporation Municipal Light & Power NANA Regional Corporation, Inc. Northrim Bank Pebble Limited Partnership Rasmuson Foundation TKC Development CORPORATE GOLD

PATRONS Maggie Balean and Nick Coltman George and Aase Haugen Nancy Kemp Mary Kemppel

A L A S K A H U M A N ITI E S F O R U M FA L L / W I N T E R 20 13

19

GRANT REPORT

A Russian American Photographer in Tlingit Country Vincent Soboleff in Alaska

“Vincent Soboleff was no

summer tourist steamboat photographer from Seattle,” said Dr. Sergei Kan. “He was a local. He knew the people he was photographing.”

Dr. Kan, a professor of anthropology at Dartmouth College, is the author of the recently published A Russian American Photographer in Tlingit Country: Vincent Soboleff in Alaska (University of Oklahoma Press, 2013).

The book was supported by two Alaska Humanities Forum general grants totaling $4,500.

It contains 137 photographs—with accompanying text by Kan—taken mostly in the 1890s and early 1900s by a young Vincent Soboleff, the son of a Russian Orthodox missionary priest who came to Southeast Alaska in the late 19th century.

When Soboleff, who was born in Killisnoo in 1882, was a teenager, his parents gave him a Kodak camera, and he became an avid photographer throughout his teens and early twenties.

He made hundreds of photographs of daily life in both Angoon, a Tlingit village on Admiralty Island, and nearby

20

A L A S K A H U M A N I T I E S F O R U M FA L L / W I NTE R 2013

Killisnoo, where Northwest Trading Alaska has been favorably reviewed in Company ran a major fish processing both Russia and the United States, inplant. The plant drew a diverse array cluding by New York Times critic Mauof employees including Tlingits from rice Berger, a research professor and the Angoon, Caucasians from elsewhere in chief curator at the Center for Art, DeAlaska and the Lower 48, Creoles (part sign and Visual Culture at the UniverRussian, part Tlingit peoples), and even sity of Maryland. shipwrecked Japanese sailors whose de“As 19th-century Native Americans scendants still inhabit the area and iden- were forced to adapt to a world dynamitify as Tlingit. cally altered by war, racial brutality, disSoboleff was hardly the only prolific ease and displacement, photographic or serious photographer to work on Ad- depictions of them habitually trafficked miralty Island during this era. However, in stereotypes built on an implicit comunlike well-known photographers based parison between the new, ‘civilized’ Inin Juneau who staged their photographs, dian and the tradition-bound ‘savage,” or visiting luminaries like Edward Cur- noted Berger. “Mr. Soboleff’s pictures tis who artificially dressed his subjects were more respectful of, and ultimately in ceremonial clothing, Soboleff made more informative about, his subjects, candid, even light-hearted photos of despite the fact that the Russian OrthoAngoon and Killisnoo residents. dox Church, which began working in “His goal not just to take photos of ill- Alaska in the mid-18th century, was acat-ease Tlingits in traditional regalia,” tively proselytizing in the Tlingit comsaid Kan. “He took photos of them go- munity.” ing to school, to church, going hunting, Lacking formal training, Soboleff was berry picking, sometimes just being silly, obviously a naturally gifted photografooling around, playing guitars, even pher. “He was a good with a camera and watching fireworks on the 4th of July.” enjoyed taking photographs, but what Soboleff also frequently photographed really helps set his work apart and benmembers of his family. efitted him as a photographer is that his The exceptions to Soboleff’s candid father was the local priest,” said Kan. shots are a series of photographs of Tlin- “Both Soboleff and his father were genergit chiefs posing in beautiful ancestral ally well-liked by the local people, and regalia, though Kan said these posed so they [the people] didn’t mind his beimages were done so at the request of ing around with his ever-present Kodak.” the chiefs on formal occasions such as Soboleff apparently stopped making funerals or a visit by a Russian Ortho- photographs in the late 1910s, after his dox bishop. father died. He opened a general store A Russian American Photographer and movie theater he ran until his death in Tlingit Country: Vincent Soboleff in in 1950.

The Alaska State Library archives contain 780 glass negatives of Soboleff’s photographs that were donated by his sister in 1968.

Kan, who has been doing archival and ethnographic research in Southeast Alaska since 1979, during his graduate school days at the University of Chicago, first saw Soboleff photos in homes of people he visited. Over the years he got to know many of the descendants of those Soboleff photographed and in the 1980s, he visited the Soboleff archives at the Alaska State Library.

“I saw how beautiful they were, but as is the nature of life, I got busy with other books and articles until finally about seven or eight years ago I decided these pictures should be published, because they are a uniquely valuable record of

But another photo in the collection, these people and the community over a the aforementioned 4th of July image, 25-year period.”

One of the photographs in the book depicts the racial disparity of the time: shows a young Tlingit man in his 20s white men set off the fireworks, while picking berries (above). “This is interest- Alaska Natives watch in the background. ing because most literature says picking “There is a tendency to believe that berries was strictly a woman’s occupa- Alaska Native and non-Native people tion, but this photo proves otherwise,” in Alaska at that time lived in two comsaid Kan. “It’s easy to envision Vincent pletely different worlds and were fairly walking around, taking this photo that hostile to one another,” said Kan. “And seemed mundane to him at the time, but there are good reasons for that percepnow it’s an important visual record for tion. But reality, at least in this commuanthropoligists.” nity, was more complicated, and these Another Soboleff photo cited by Kan photographs capture that complexity.” depicts a group of fisherman smiling around a massive halibut they’ve just reeled to shore. The fishermen are a An excerpt from Dr, Kan’ s book, A Russian American Photographer in multicultural bunch: Tlingit, Asian and Tlingit Country: Vincent Soboleff in white, rubbing shoulders during their Alaska , begins on the next page. shared triumph.

A L A S K A H U M A N ITI E S F O R U M FA L L / W I N T E R 20 13

21

GRANT REPORT

Not being a commercial photographer, Soboleff rarely posed his subjects but took his pictures in natural settings. Moreover, as a son of a well-liked local clergyman and a long-time resident of the community, he had a much closer relationship with the Tlingit people than the majority of the other photographers who portrayed Native life in southeastern Alaska. Thus, unlike most other area photographers (commercial and amateur alike), Soboleff tended to identify his Tlingit subjects by name rather than labeling them simply as “a Tlingit boy,” “an Indian maiden,” or “an old chief,” as many of other Alaska photographers of his time did. Unlike the abovementioned commercial photographers, such as De Groff, Case and Draper, or Winter and Pond, Vincent very rarely staged his photographs (with Whites portraying Indians) or exoticized his subjects. On the contrary, a number of his pictures portray subjects unaware of being photographed: his small Kodak camera allowed that. This type of picture, in my opinion, is particularly valuable, since it provides a more natural rather than staged portrayal of the subject. A good example of this is his photograph of a group of Tlingit men standing on the porch of a lineageowned house in Angoon dressed in ceremonial regalia (opposite). They appear to be just coming out of the house. According to my sources, the man in front wearing a cedar bark ring and holding a rattle is John Nelson, who at one point served as the head of the Killer Whale Chasing Seal House of the Dakl’aweidí Clan. The man behind him is holding a dance paddle, while the one emerging from the door has a bib on with what appears to be a beaded killer whale. The 22

A L A S K A H U M A N I T I E S F O R U M FA L L / W I NTE R 2013

fact that the photo had not been posed is further underscored by the appearance of the man at the lower bottom of the picture: he is a passer-by whose cheek is bandaged, suggesting that he must have been suffering from a toothache.

The informal nature of many of Soboleff’s images may have also something to do with the fact that when he took most of his photographs, he was still a teenager or a young adult. It may be that his subjects simply did not pay as much attention to this Russian-American youngster with a small camera, as they would to a professional adult photographer with a large photographic apparatus.

Vincent’s age also explains his fondness for taking pictures of children, Native, Creole, or Euro-American, and, of course, members of his own family.

Thanks to him, we have quite a few excellent images of local children, some of them posing while others busy doing what all kids do—playing or just fooling around (page 24). In fact, I would argue that Vita’s most charming images are those of his sisters and adopted younger brother Cyril Zuboff. Here he lovingly portrays his younger siblings against the background of beautiful local scenery.

O

n a few occasions when Tlingit aristocrats posed for Soboleff, they must have asked him to take their picture.

In fact, we know that particular local clan leaders (e.g., Kichnáalx or Killisnoo Jake), like Tlingit people in general, were quite fond of being photographed surrounded by their ceremonial possessions, since such images became additional permanent proof of their high rank and status. A good example of such posed picture is that of Kaajaakwtí, unlike Kichnáalx, who preferred to be photographed inside his own house, this high-ranking aristocrat and house leader agreed to come over to the Soboleff house and pose first in his chiefly ceremonial regalia: a Chilkat blanket and a Dog Salmon headdress and then in his policeman’s uniform and an-

other jacket, which looks like that of a Navy officer (the two jackets can be seen hanging behind Kaajaakwtí). It is possible that on the same visit, Vincent also photographed the Dog Salmon Clan leader outdoors near the Soboleff house and the church.

Ethnographers and ethnohistorians can certainly regret that Soboleff did not take more pictures of Tlingit ceremonies, like a very interesting one in-

Excerpt from A Russian American Photographer in Tlingit Country: Vincent Soboleff in Alaska , by Sergei Kan, University of Oklahoma Press, 2013, pages 47-50.

volving the raising of a gravestone for a deceased Deisheetaan Clan woman by Kaagwaantaan Clan dignitaries, which he captured (page 25). He was obviously interested in the subject but had to deal with two problems in trying to photograph such scenes. Firstly, most of the Native dances, feasts and memorials occurred indoors where the poor lighting made it near impossible to take any pictures without a flash and where using a flash would have disrupted a ceremony.

Secondly, these ceremonies took place in Angoon and not in Killisnoo, which means that our young photographer must have missed many of them.

Fortunately Vincent was interested not only in the ceremonial life of the Tlingit people but also in such everyday activities as fishing, hunting, and berry

picking. In fact, some of his photographs provide valuable correction to a number of existing anthropological stereotypes Tlingit culture. Thus, for example, the notion that women were the only ones to pick berries is challenged by the photo of a young man engaged in such an activity (page 21).

Equally important for those of us interested in the changes that were taking place in Tlingit life in the late 1800s-early 1900s, are the Soboleff photos that depict the new economic Native pursuits, such as commercial fishing, selling berries to the non-Natives, or making “Indian curious” for sale to the visiting tourists. His group photographs of the Killisnoo church societies and brotherhoods are an indispensable source of information about these important indig-

enous sodalities that helped smooth the native acceptance of Russian Orthodox Christianity.

Vincent’s interest in the operation of the Killisnoo factory and its multiethnic workforce is also a major asset for us: thanks to it we have a series of unique photographs that provide us with a picture of a place where Whites, Creoles and Natives both rubbed shoulders on a daily basis and kept a certain distance from each other, especially when it came to leisure activities. Nonetheless, I, for one, was surprised to discover how involved the Tlingit men were in so many work projects, besides fishing, undertaken by the factory or related to its operation.

Finally, one should be grateful to Soboleff for taking the time to photograph

ordinary factory workers, regardless of their ethnicity and “race,” as well as for his love of boats and local scenery.

T

o conclude I would like to concur with an earlier assessment of Vincent Soboleff’s photography by the late Susie Fair who argued that his documentary work compares favorably with that of Edward de Groff and Reuben Albertson of Sitka (1880s), Brown and Winter of Eugene, Oregon (1887), Frank La Roche of Seattle (1890s) and Lloyd V. Winter and E. P. Pond of Juneau (1890s-1910s), all of whom were professional photographers.

If we compare Soboleff’s work with that of a truly outstanding southeastern Alaska photographer, Elbridge Merrill A L A S K A H U M A N ITI E S F O R U M FA L L / W I N T E R 20 13

23

GRANT REPORT

(1868-1929), who was undoubtedly the number one photographer of the Tlingit and whose work is discussed in a separate chapter of a recent book on “the Tlingit encounter with photography,” striking similarities as well as major differences emerge. Unlike Soboleff, Merrill was a talented professional, whose photographs were carefully planned and executed, and in some cases represented an outstanding work of art. Like Vincent, Merrill spent a long time living in Sitka, i.e., next door to the Tlingit community, and hence enjoyed its trust. Thus we know that he was often asked to take pictures of funeral scenes or create portraits of Native individuals and families. However, living in a much smaller community than Sitka, where Tlingit and newcomers mingled more

24

A L A S K A H U M A N I T I E S F O R U M FA L L / W I NTE R 2013

freely, and because of his status as a son of the local priest and a brother-in-law of a Tlingit woman, Soboleff must have enjoyed a closer relationship with his subjects than Merrill (who was actually known for being a recluse). Despite all this, we should not overestimate Soboleff’s understanding of Tlingit culture and especially the intricacies of their social structure and ceremonial life. The labels attached to some of his photographs indicate confusion about moieties, clans and lineages as well as the potlatch, while his references to lineage-owned houses as “dance houses,” suggest that his family (and certainly his nephew Kinky) did not fully understand the social and symbolic significance of these structures.

To achieve that kind of level of cul-

tural competence a photographer had to be either a Native person himself or an ethnographer with a long-term immersion into Tlingit cultural ideology and social life and preferably at least some command of the Tlingit language.

The only ethnographer of this kind, who also happened to be Vincent’s contemporary, was an amateur ethnographer and collector George T. Emmons (1852-1945). In fact, Emmons did take a fair number of pictures while collecting Tlingit artifacts for museums and recording ethnographic information along the way. However, he was only interested in “traditional culture” and, unlike Soboleff, did not seem to be concerned about the quality of his pictures.

Moreover, his photographs languished in museum archives until Frederica de

Laguna finally brought them out as illustrations to Emmons’ ethnography of the Tlingit.

As far as Native photographers are concerned, the only one who comes to mind is Louis Shotridge (Stoowukáa) (1882-1937), a high-ranking Tlingit aristocrat who received high school and some college education and between 1915 and 1927 collected artifacts in Tlingit communities for the University of Pennsylvania Museum as well as detailed ethnographic data for a book on Tlingit history and culture he was planning to write. In addition he took about 500 photographs “of named individuals, townscapes, landscapes, objects, and events.” Unfortunately, most of his photographs remained unpublished and

are only now undergoing the process of being scanned and made available to researchers and the general public.

Those few Shotridge photographs that I have seen demonstrate that he was at ease with his subjects and could photograph them on both formal and informal occasions. Of course, he knew their names and identified all of them. One could say that in many ways both Louis Shotridge and Vincent Soboleff were the precursors of a new generation of photographers of Native life in southeastern Alaska. These photographers either come from the Native community or have lived in it for a long time and have established strong personal and/or professional ties with it. Among them one should mention Peter Metcalf and Tlin-

git photographer Samuella Samaniego.

Despite these inevitable historical and cultural limitations of his work, Vincent Soboleff has bequeathed us a unique and very substantial record of images, many of them quite striking, that open a window on the life of the Native people and newcomers in the heart of Southeast Alaska over one hundred years ago. It is a privilege for me to finally bring a representative sample of these images out from the archive onto the printed page where they can be looked at, enjoyed and discussed by the descendants of those he photographed, by scholars and by anyone who is interested in and cares about this beautiful land and its fascinating people. ■

A L A S K A H U M A N ITI E S F O R U M FA L L / W I N T E R 20 13

25

Clark James Mishler

is a man on a mission.

The objective: Make one professional portrait of a fellow Alaskan or Alaskans every day, without fail.

M

ishler began his Portrait a Day project on January 1, 2010. He hasn’t missed a day since. His goal is to continue making one portrait a day—of Alaska Native elders, punk rockers, fashion models, Westchester Lagoon ice skaters, Alaska State Fair workers, or anyone else he randomly encounters who strikes his interest—until January 1, 2020. A decade.

“And I might not stop there,” he said. “I’m having too much fun.”

Mishler moved to Alaska in 1979 and rapidly established himself as one of the top photographers in the state. His first solo exhibition at the Anchorage Museum was in 1982.

His work has appeared in hundreds of books and magazines, including National Geographic, and in 2007 he published the distinguished photo book Anchorage, Life at the Edge of the Frontier.

More recently, the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center exhibited a major solo exhibit of Mishler’s work entitled, “portrait alaska: clark james mishler.” The 200 portraits in the show included many from Mishler’s ongoing Portrait a Day project.

“Although many of the pictures were shot on location, there is a studio-like feel to them that lends a certain formality to the images,” wrote former Anchorage Daily News photo editor Richard Murphy, now the Snedden Chair of Journalism at University of Alaska Fairbanks.

“The application of consistent lighting technique and composition allows the individual subjects to distinguish

26

A L A S K A H U M A N I T I E S F O R U M FA L L / W I NTE R 2013

The Ques

Fourth of July Parade, Anchorage. CLARK JAMES MISHLER.

st of Clark James Mishler

I want you to look at one thing in my photographs.

I want you be to drawn to one thing. And I’m going to make that decision of what that one thing is.

themselves. Both differences and similarities show themselves, but it is the similarities in the people that are the most striking. There are no social distinctions or political differences, the urban/rural divide is closed and the people of Alaska, different though we may be, are shown as members of the same tribe.

“In most of the photos, the subject looks directly at the camera, and one senses a connection with the artist. Each person is treated with dignity; the Olympic athlete shares the photographic podium equally with a homeless man.”

Forum recently interviewed Mishler in his home studio in the South Addition neighborhood of Anchorage not long after he’d finished his daily morning workout routine. “I’m 65 but I’m in really good condition,” he said. “My workouts make it so that I can get down on the floor and back up again as many times as I need to on a photo shoot.

Climbing ladders, scaling fences, whatever it takes to get the image, that’s what I’m about.”

What inspired you to begin work on your Portrait a Day project?

I

have the economic slowdown to thank. When I get economically challenged, as I have periodically over the years, I have tended to look inward and outward at the same time, basically just trying to figure out ways to keep myself busy while reaching out to the community and advancing my creative skills.

The Portrait a Day project sprung out of the Great Recession, I guess you could say. I was sitting around twiddling my thumbs and I said, “Okay, what can I do to get myself out of the office every day, and to get to know my community a little better and maybe do something that’s going to make me a better photographer.”

How do you feel about that decision now?

Fantastic. Nothing could have panned out better in all those directions. I’m confident that what I’m doing is not only achieving all its original goals, but, frankly, it’s unprecedented. I’m four years into this thing. There are quite a few photo a day projects in the world, but I don’t know of anybody else, and I keep searching, who has a daily portrait project they’ve kept going continually as long as I have.

There was a guy who did a Polaroid a day project for about 15 years, but they weren’t portraits. Sometimes they were interesting. Sometimes they were images of his left foot or his cat. And he’s dead now.

28

A L A S K A H U M A N I T I E S F O R U M FA L L / W I NTE R 2013

Why Portrait a Day? You’re a well-known professional photographer. Why not just go with “Clark Mishler Photo of the Day?”

I think the thing about a portrait is, it adds another layer of complexity and difficulty to the project, because you have to find somebody to photograph. Certainly you can make a self-portrait in the bathroom mirror, but I kind of think that’s cheating. I’d also say close family members or friends are cheating. And I admit, I did cheat a few times, very early on in the project, but I’d say 99 percent of the images I make now are strangers, or at least people I know but don’t know well, who I have to approach.

So what’s your approach? Do you vary it from individual to individual?

No. It’s basically the same, always. I say, “Excuse me, may I make your photograph.”

And they say?

Almost invariably, the answer is, “Yes.” Then they ask, “What’s this for?” But only after they first say “Yes.” I explain I’m a professional photographer and I’ve been doing this project for three-and-a-half years. I say, “I can’t promise you, but your photo may wind up on my blog."

Then I say, “What’s your name?” What do you do?” And they tell me. And then I go, ‘Okay, I really like what you’re

3:30 PM, September 9, 2013. Colony High school Assistant Football Coach Nathan Dahl, Palmer.

7:15 PM, September 16, 2013. UAA student Kayla Fry and recent graduate Guy Eriksen with their long boards on G Street, South Addition, Anchorage.

2 PM, September 3, 2013. Painting contractor Jeremy Cohen (right) with Ernie King as they prepare to work on a home in South Addition, Anchorage.

7 PM, August 12, 2013. Six-year-old neighbor Quinzee Brockman, South Addition, Anchorage.

ALL CLARK JAMES MISHLER.

A L A S K A H U M A N ITI E S F O R U M FA L L / W I N T E R 20 13

29

I’m totally aware of the selection process. I look for somebody who stands out. What I’m doing is not a cross-section of Anchorage. That would be pretty boring.

doing right now, let me take that picture.” Click. Then I show it to them. Then often they’ll start participating, saying, “What if I turn like this or do this or hold this in my other hand.” So I take another photo, maybe a third, certainly no more than three, and then I say, “Let me get some information on you,” and I pull out my pen and pad, which is always in my pocket, and I write down the basic information and their email address, and then I always send them a large email version of their portrait they can print.

How do you decide whom to approach? How do you choose your subjects?

That’s the trick. I’m totally aware of the selection process. I look for somebody who stands out. What I’m doing is not a cross-section of Anchorage. That would be pretty boring, if you picked every tenth person. I don’t do that.

But here’s an example of how it works for me: The other day I was driving down the street and I saw this little kid sitting on top of this wood fence, kind of crouched down, just sitting there, and he had the hood of his sweatshirt up over his head, like an owl looking out. So I screeched to a halt, walked over to him and I said, “First, don’t move. Don’t change a thing.” Then I went into my usual, “Would you mind if I made your photograph doing what you’re doing right now." And he said, “Yeah, sure,” then he thought about it and said, “Well, maybe I better go ask my grandma.” So he goes in the house, and comes out with his grandma, and she recognizes me from the neighborhood and goes, “Oh, he wants to take your photograph? That’s fine.” And she walks back in the house. So then he crawls back on top of the fence and gets into the same position as when I first saw him and that was my portrait of the day.

There’s always someone who’s doing something a little out of the ordinary, or a lot out of the ordinary, and that’s who I want to photograph. It might be something they’re wearing. It might be where they’re standing or sitting. It might be a tool or something they have in their hand.

Like, for instance, an assault rifle.

Yeah, that was a good one. And a tough one. I was in Muldoon, Boniface Area, on assignment for an insurance agent, the usual, kind of everyday bread-and-butter stuff that a professional photographer does, and right across the street was this store with a neon handgun in the window and the name of the store was Ammo King. And I thought, “I need to get a portrait of some guy at the counter of Ammo King holding an assault rifle with that neon gun in the background.” So that was one rare instance where I pre-conceived the portrait. I walked in, there were five guys working in that place. I didn’t have my camera out, and I asked every person in the store, “Would you mind if I made a photograph of you?” And every single person refused. Which is the extreme inverse of the usual response I get. Paranoia was running a little deeper

30

A L A S K A H U M A N I T I E S F O R U M FA L L / W I NTE R 2013

5:15 PM, September 8, 2013. Tammy Sitar with a puppet crated in her likeness by puppeteer Donald “Buzz” Schwall, Anchorage.

10 AM, August 28, 2013. Attorney and neighbor Rodney Kleedehn cleaning up in front of his South Addition home in Anchorage.

12 Noon, July 17, 2013. Alexia Buedea and Karen Florian of G&G Garden Services apply their professional services in South Addition, Anchorage.

7:45 PM, September 13, 2013. Eighteen-month-old Helen Sorbel, Anchorage.

ALL CLARK JAMES MISHLER.

A L A S K A H U M A N ITI E S F O R U M FA L L / W I N T E R 20 13

31

I thought, “I need to get a portrait of some guy at the counter of Ammo King holding an assault rifle with that neon gun in the background.”

Al “Bondigas,” Ammo King, Anchorage

with that crowd than with the general populace. But I was persistent until one guy said, “Well, maybe, so and so over there would do it.” So I go over to so and so, and he was very apprehensive, but I did my best pitch and I explained to him my project and I told him, “I don’t have anything remotely like this in my project, and I would really love to get this photograph if you don’t mind.” So I finally talked him into it, made the photograph, and then asked for his name.

And he gave me an alias in Italian that means spaghetti. So he was in the museum as Mr. Spaghetti.

You wrote in your artist’s statement at the museum that, “A portrait must feature at least a portion of a person, though not necessarily the face.” How can you make a portrait without a face?

Oh, it’s one of my favorite things to do and I don’t do it enough. But I do search out situations where I can say a great deal about a person without showing their face. I think a portrait for instance can be just hands, hands that are doing a particular kind of activity and have a particular character to them, whether young or old or extremely old.

Hands alone can say a great deal about that person.

32

A L A S K A H U M A N I T I E S F O R U M FA L L / W I NTE R 2013

You also stated that you find it rewarding to make portraits of two people at a time. Why is that?

Yes, I love it. Particularly two people who have some kind of relationship. To me it’s all about the space between the two people, and sometimes that space is overlapping, so it’s the negative space of those two people. There was a photograph in the show of two brothers and they have three eyes between them, because there’s one eye they have in common in the photograph because of the overlapping.

And that’s a perfect example of what I’m talking about, because those brothers have all that stuff that brothers have between them—love, hate, jealousy, fascination. And if I can show that relationship in a photograph, how those two people merge together, then I’ve been successful.

One more question based on your own words: You wrote that, “No matter how I attempt to vary my approach, I find many similarities in my images.”

Why do you say that?

Because I repeat the same pictures over and over and over again, though luckily I have about 10 or 12 different

10:30 AM, Friday, September 27, 2013. Man behind the mask, Master Carver Perry Eaton, Anchorage.

7:15 PM, September 21, 2013. Twelve year old Ninilchik resident Damien Adami while visiting his grandmother in Anchorage.

2:15 PM, Sunday, September 29, 2013. Alys Church as “Psycho” on Fourth Avenue during “Senshi-Con” Alaska’s Original Anime Convention, Anchorage.

7:15 PM, September 18, 2013. Neighbor Katherine Kwon and her son, Jeremy, on the Delaney Park Strip, Anchorage. ALL CLARK JAMES MISHLER.

A L A S K A H U M A N ITI E S F O R U M FA L L / W I N T E R 20 13

33

My mantra is, “Try to make something new and different, especially that surprises yourself.”

ways of approaching portraits. One thing I do is I photograph usually on one knee. I’m getting down. If you look at all my portraits, I’d say that 90 percent of them are taken below eye level. Many at waist level, or lower, because with children you have to sit on your butt. And if you’re shooting dogs you have to get down on your stomach.

Another big thing I do is lack of focus. Or a lack of a specific focus. So you have one thing that’s in focus and everything else slightly out. Or a lot out. So selective focus is very important to me.

I know a lot of photographers who lock it down on a tripod and shoot it F/16or F/22 or F/32 or God know’s what, and everything is in focus from the blade of grass that’s right below the camera to the mountaintop in the beyond.

That’s not me. That’s not the images that I try to make. I want you to look at one thing in my photographs. I want you be to drawn to one thing. And I’m going to make that decision of what that one thing is.

Generally, it’s the eyes of the most important person in the photograph. Do you know which eye?

No. Which?

The closest eye. The closest eye to the camera. As long as you make that eye totally in focus, the rest of the photograph can be a mile out, but as long as that eye is sharp, that picture works.

I shoot with a 50mm lens at F/2, and F/2 with a 50 is what I like the best, because I get a real, real close point of sharpness and everything else is out. It’s just a terrific way to make a photograph.

There are a lot of other subtle things I do over and over again that try as I might, I can’t necessarily get away from.

So why try? What you’re doing is obviously working?

There’s two ways of looking at it. Yeah, it’s working, keep doing it, and making your pictures the way you do, because you’re succeeding. My mantra is, “Try to make something new and different, surprisingly new and different, especially that surprises yourself.” That’s the mantra.

That’s the goal. That’s the quest.

Do you ever want to reach the end of the quest?

AT THE FORUM Clark James Mishler will be showing his images of the Point Hope Whale Festival at the Forum during the month of April, 2014. The First Friday opening will be April 4. See page 50.

Whale boat frame, Point Hope, The Purchase Centennial Project

34

A L A S K A H U M A N I T I E S F O R U M FA L L / W I NTE R 2013

Truthfully, no. Because then what? I want to keep doing this for the next 20 years. And I’m doing my best work ever, the best work of my career.

How do you know?

Because I’m more consistent. I’m more self-assured. You do a portrait every single day for three-and-a-half years and I guarantee that you’ll be 10 times the photographer you are right now. I guarantee it, because I am. Every day my feet hit the floor and I say, ‘Yes, let’s do this again.’ ■

PROGRAM NOTES: Leadership anchorage

A vision for the future of Leadership Anchorage

Walking together

I

’m always proud to say Alaska has been my home for more than 30 years.

It is where I’ve raised a family, invested in the community, and served in leadership roles for corporate, public and non-profit organizations. My experiences have taken me to cities, towns and villages all across Alaska and offered me opportunities to meet many talented individuals who care deeply about the state, our people, and our communities. These experiences have developed in me a deep commitment to discover, appreciate and develop the greatest possibility in others. I’m a strong believer in the value of collaboration and synergy, where diversity is embraced and people achieve more by learning and working together.

I am delighted to have recently joined the Alaska Humanities Forum to guide Leadership Anchorage towards an exciting vision of the future that retains the distinctive aspects of the program while integrating new and innovative strategies for a world-class learning experience.

The African proverb, “If you want to walk fast, walk alone. If you want to walk far, walk together,” is reflected in my approach to life and work. Together, we can unleash the greatest possibilities in each other and for each other.

Friends of the Alaska Humanities Forum are no doubt already familiar with Leadership Anchorage and many of its distinguished alumni. Leadership Anchorage is one of the premiere leadership development programs for Alaskan leaders who are committed to deepening their leadership capabilities and expanding their impact across the state.

Leadership Anchorage was established by the Forum in 1997 through a Pell grant, and has continued for 16 years thanks to strong local sponsorship and funding from the National Endow-

By Kitty Farnham

ment for the Humanities. The lasting value of this program is based on its unique design and format that connects and develops leaders, preparing them for more significant roles that will help shape our society and address the key issues within our state.

We are currently recruiting participants for the 2013-14 Leadership Anchorage class. Applications are due Nov. 18, 2013. Outreach is extending across the community and state to identify the next cohort of leaders with a diverse range of backgrounds, heritage, professional and life experiences—from established to emerging leaders in all sectors of our communities. This includes business, government, non-profit, neighborhood, and cultural organizations.

Leadership Anchorage’s purpose is to deepen leadership capacity in individuals by learning through the lens of humanities and in the context of our state, communities, people and issues.

Through group experiences, readings, community projects, mentors and personal reflection, participants will explore the lessons of the humanities and their relevance to the dynamic issues and opportunities leaders of Alaska face.

The experience will be deeply enriched by the diversity participants bring and the new connections they will make with people from differing backgrounds. I am also excited about providing new and innovative ways to evolve the mentorship component and community project aspects of the program.

Leadership Anchorage provides a robust experience in leadership development that addresses issues that are both deeply personal and relevant to our society. It includes learning through provocative questions, dialogue, and

Kitty Farnham, manager of the Forum program Leadership Anchorage.

application materials

and additional information about Leadership Anchorage: www.akhf.org/programs/ leadership-anchorage kfarnham@akhf.org 907-272-5324

reflection that calls us to understand and address our assumptions, beliefs, and adaptive challenges. Participants will discover what it means to lead in a complex, unpredictable and ambiguous world. Leadership Anchorage participants will emerge from the program more prepared to lead in new ways, with new eyes, with a deeper appreciation for differing perspectives and experience addressing a diverse array of issues and opportunities. As a microcosm of our state’s citizens, we build a community of accomplished professionals and civic leaders for Anchorage and Alaska.

This is why Leadership Anchorage is such an important and distinctive program and an exciting place for me to be at this time. I’ve designed and led numerous leadership development programs at BP, Alaska Pacific University and University of Alaska Anchorage.

However, Leadership Anchorage offers a unique learning experience that connects diverse participants to each other, A L A S K A H U M A N ITI E S F O R U M FA L L / W I N T E R 20 13

35

PROGRAM NOTES through the lens of the humanities, in an experiential journey that reflects on our heritage and prepares us to thrive in the future. I’m excited to advance the vision with the Alaska Humanities Forum and also explore how Leadership Anchorage might broaden its reach to provide development opportunities for people throughout the state.

As recruiting and planning for Leadership Anchorage 17 gains momentum, I am also very excited to engage the tremendous cadre of leaders who are part of the Leadership Anchorage family—including more than 300 alumni, hundreds of presenters and mentors, program sponsors, and community partners who have hosted Leadership Anchorage projects. I look forward to extending our network to even more of Alaska’s leaders for new, creative and innovative forms of connecting, learning and aligning for impact on issues of importance to our state.

Alaska is at the forefront of global changes, which brings both challenge and opportunity—it calls for capable and compassionate leadership at all levels.

Throughout our vast geography and relatively small populace, we are rich with history and heritage, while we embrace the opportunity to become innovative and farseeing architects of our future. We enjoy unparalleled natural beauty, as well as contemporary amenities that connect us to each other and others around the globe. As one of the most diverse places in the nation we have a distinctive opportunity to generate innovative models of leadership and citizenship that honor, embrace and leverage this rich diversity.

We have a distinctive opportunity to generate innovative models of leadership and citizenship.

I’ve seen the tremendous impact that positive, creative, catalytic leadership provides, and also the need for more opportunities for personal growth and connections across our state’s diverse communities and sectors. We need to understand and invest in each other to develop innovative ways that prepare us to lead through the complex issues and opportunities facing our state.

I have also witnessed how impactful the Alaska Humanities Forum is in our state, and the tremendous value Leadership Anchorage provides to both participants and the organizations and people they serve. It is a distinct honor to be given this opportunity to invest my personal energy and passion for building Alaskan leaders with the Forum’s vision for this flagship program. ■

36

A L A S K A H U M A N I T I E S F O R U M FA L L / W I NTE R 2013

Creating Cultural Competence of Rural Early Career Teachers

New teachers learn about Native culture before school starts

By Daysha Eaton

T

eachers headed to the Northwest Arctic Borough School District spent some time learning Inupiaq language, crafts and culture at a traditional fish camp this summer in preparation for their new jobs.

The camp is one of two in the state that are part of the Alaska Humanities Forum program Creating Cultural Competence of Rural Early Career Teachers, or C3 for short.

It’s an effort to improve cultural understanding among incoming teachers and to help with teacher retention. And it seems to be working.

Most of the new teachers have never gutted a fish, gone tundra trekking or used a honey bucket. Sitting on the corner of his tent platform, wearing his new rubber boots, Kevin Foster said he was not expecting the region where he’ll soon be teaching to be so soggy or remote.

“When I came out here I kinda thought that it would be like cabins,” Foster said. “And I kinda thought that it would be like paved like walkways and it was just, no this is a whole new terrain.”

The camp sits along the sloping bank of the Kobuk River, about eight miles upriver from Kiana. There’s no electricity or running water and the only form of communication and sometimes entertainment was a VHF radio in the cookhouse.

There was also a fish drying rack and half a dozen wooden platforms topped with tents. It’s about 30 miles north of the Arctic Circle and thousands of miles from the cities and suburbs of the Lower 48 where most of the dozen or so early career teachers studied. Foster grew up in a mostly black neighborhood on the south side of Chicago and went to college in Iowa.

Local kids taught him some Iñupiaq. The 24-year-old is now teaching preschool in the tiny village of Shungnak.

Alaska has long counted on a steady stream of eager graduates to fill the state’s most remote teaching positions.

But the teacher turnover rate in some villages as high as 30 to 50 percent. The Alaska Humanities Forum, along with tribal groups and school districts, is trying to improve that

Kevin Foster (right), now a preschool teacher in Shungnak, watches as lunch is prepared during a stop at a beach along the Kobuk River.

Daysha Eaton, KSKA – Anchorage.

rate through the 10-day Cultural Immersion program. Elizabeth Yandl, is another incoming teacher from Seattle.

“You know, they tell you before you come here that the mosquitoes are awful and that they’re worse than you imagine,” Yandl said. “And I was imagining pretty bad, but the reality is still shocking.”

Yandl is teaching middle school and high school language arts in the hub community of Kotzebue. She sat around a table, sewing with kids and elders.

Yandl said meeting local residents made her feel more prepared for her new job.

“I’m so grateful for this experience just to help me become comfortable with Alaska and to really realize that this was the right decision for me and that this really is the place for me to be right now,” Yandl said.

Victoria Morris helped coordinate daily activities at the camp and leads the hands-on portion of a college course the teachers are enrolled in. As part of the course she taught them the values of local residents.

“Our traditions, our values, our subsistence lifestyle,” Morris said. “I’m also introducing them to what life is like living in the village in a rural, isolated

area, exposing them to the cost of living up here.”

The program doesn’t sugarcoat the challenges of living in the bush; teachers go grocery shopping to get familiar with high prices and visit with State Troopers to learn about law enforcement issues such as alcoholism and sexual assault. But the teachers were also introduced to the positives, like the opportunity to build a strong sense of community and to learn live off the land.

Alaska Humanities Forum CEO Nina Kemppel spent a few days at the camp with the new teachers. The overarching goal of the program, she said, is to improve education in rural districts.

“The rationale behind this program is that if we can keep teachers in the schools longer, especially new teachers, new to Alaska, in schools longer, teaching for 3 to 4 years, we actually increase student achievement through that,” Kemppel said.

Kemppel said they’re already seeing results. Tracy Bell was in the first group of teachers who went through the training last summer. She came back.

The course helped her make the transition, she said, from living in Lansing, Michigan to life in village of Selawik.

She says it gave her an idea of what to expect.

“Just to be open-minded to the culture; I mean, there’s so many people that come in and I think they expect it to be different, a lot like the Lower 48 and it’s not,” Bell said. “Just to be open to all the changes and to be flexible; just to realize that you know we’re outsiders coming in.”

That’s something the camp seemed to drive home for Foster as well. He said he believes what he learned through the program will help him relate to his students.

“This is what they do for their summer; they go fishing and get fish and they save it up for the year. Like, just talking about this experience, like, ‘What’d you do for the summer? Oh yeah, I did that too!,’” Foster said.

That’s just the kind of thing that organizers of the program are hoping for.

Around 90 percent of the teachers who participated in the program last year returned to teach in rural Alaska a second year.

Organizers hope that the program may become a model for districts across the state. ■ This article appears courtesy of Alaska Public Media.

A L A S K A H U M A N ITI E S F O R U M FA L L / W I N T E R 20 13

37

PROGRAM NOTES: take wing alaska

Where I’m From

T

he Alaska Humanities Forum

program Take Wing Alaska supports Alaska Native students from the Yukon-Kuskokwim Region with mentored transitions to urban post-secondary education. The project’s long-term vision is for participating students to return home and contribute to their rural communities.

This July, Take Wing Alaska’s third cohort of students spent two weeks of campus immersion at the University of Alaska Anchorage during the summer before their junior year of high school.

The 23 students in the cohort repre-

38

A L A S K A H U M A N I T I E S F O R U M FA L L / W I NTE R 2013

sent six Yup’ik villages: Alakanuk, Kipnuk, Kotlik, Mountain Village, Napaskiak and Tooksook Bay. The July immersion was the first of three urban campus experiences the students are to take part in before transitioning into a post-secondary education program of their choice. It was defined by three themes: Bonding, Going Deep, and Autonomy.

Going Deep guided the students in celebrating their personal and cultural identities. This included “Where I Am From,” a writing exercise in which the students first lay comfortably on

the floor and visualized their favorites smells, sounds, places and people of their home communities. They then incorporated those visualizations into formatted short poems with the shared title “Where I Am From.” The poems were displayed at the cohort’s graduation ceremony in late July, along with other examples of their creative work.

Six of the “Where I Am From” poems

by Take Wing students are published on these pages, unedited for slang or style.

The rest are available on the Alaska Humanities Forum blog Door 15, accessible by clicking on its link at akhf.org.

I am Alngacagaq. I am from Kotlik and I’m Yupik. I am from my house. I am from the tundra and blue and salmon berries. I am from the river and Hondas. I am from boredness. I am from the ayuq tea. I am from the muddy deep river. I’m from picking up trash and opening one present on Christmas Eve and Mungtuq.

I am from hearing my mom saying I love you and hearing a joke on April fools. I am from washing dishes and hearing come home early and playing duck duck goose, and flapjack. I am Alngacagaq. I am from Kotlik and I am Yupik.

— Desiree Teeluk

I am Coda.

I am from Mountain Village & the yup’iks who live near the yukon.

I am from the hills.

I am from the branches trees & bushes on the earth.

I am from the aroma of the wind and the howling sirens.

I am from feeling loved from the soft warm sound of people’s voices.

I am from the trees & trails.

I am from the strong flowing river.

I’m from yuraqing and potlatches and muktuk.

I am from i love you and cobby.

I’m from my intelligent father Darrin and my beautiful mother Jesan.

I am from Ignatius.

I am from the ones who keep trying and who don’t ever quit and the excitement of donkey kong.

I am Coda.

I am from Mountain Village and the yu’piks who live near the yukon.

— LaCoda Walker A L A S K A H U M A N ITI E S F O R U M FA L L / W I N T E R 20 13

39

I am kaligtuq I am from kipnuk I am from my house I am from the ocean and tundra I am from the river and the truck I am from a happy place I am from the sea weed I am from the brown deep river I’m from picking salmon berries and cutting fish and oily herrings I am from go to bed and I’m broke I’m from strong Clint and big Travis I am from Peter I am from avoid the river and don’t play with matches and uno I am kaligtuq I’m from kipnuk and yup’ik — Leroy Paul

I am Pagyuan I am from Kipnuk and Yupik I am from the ocean hunting for seals I am from the smell of assaaliaq and the birds I hear in the morning I am from the happiness of being home I am from the caiggluk on the ground I am from the happily flowing I’m from the uqiiquq and singing happy birthday at midnight and dried halibut I am from hi Sigga and you’re special I’m from kind Apach and annoying uncle I am from Agnes I am from go home and its 11:00 and Hide N’ Seek I am Pagyuan I am from Kipnuk and Yupik.

— Sig furd Dock

40

A L A S K A H U M A N I T I E S F O R U M FA L L / W I NTE R 2013

I am Angutaq, I am from PKA, im yupik.

I am from the court playing ball.

I am from the Tundra and smelling of my moms cooking.

I am from a famous place and from let’s play ball.

I am from happy yay!!

I am from green grass in the summer.

I am from the deep fishy river.

I am from a place where they yuraq, and feast, and moose soup.

I am from a good boy and friends that are my brothers that tell jokes.

I am from a loving family, and my ball coach Travis that teaches his good moves to me.

I am from Chris and Marie.

I am from a good boy and nice guy and kick the can and basketball.

I am Angutaq, I am from Napaskiak, Ak and im yupik.

I am Nasgauq I am from Nelson Island and I am Yup’ik I am from the ocean I am from the dust and mud I am from the tundra and birds I am from peaceful house I am from the bay and fish I am from the waves and rocks I am from gatherings and Eskimo dance and dried fish I am from respect and laughters I am from Sophie and Paul I am from love and tag with friends and play kick the can I am Nasgauq I am from Toksook Bay and Eskimo — Naomi John

Where I’m From

­ — Shawn Larson

A L A S K A H U M A N ITI E S F O R U M FA L L / W I N T E R 20 13

41

emulsified This page: Shishmaref Basketball Hoop. Shishmaref, 2010.

Opposite: Bootleggers Hedge and Car. Anchorage, 2011.

DJ Spencer Shroyer. Anchorage, 2013.

42

A L A S K A H U M A N I T I E S F O R U M FA L L / W I NTE R 2013

In his new book, Brian Adams identifies as Alaskan, Inupiat, American and a photographer – but not necessarily in that order

I “I am Alaskan. I am Inupiat. I am a photographer. I am a citizen of the North and also the world. I am a son, a father, a friend. I am me. I am Alaskan,” writes professional photographer Brian Adams near the beginning of his new book of photography I Am Alaskan.

“Alaska is the first love of my life, photography the second.”

A joint project of the Alaska Humanities Forum and the University of Alaska Press, I Am Alaskan features 181 of Adams’s photographs taken from the last seven years of his work. The University of Chicago Press is distributing the book, which was published in October.

Based in Anchorage after moving home from New York City in 2011, Adams, 28, specializes in environmental portraiture. His work has been featured in national and international publications such as the New York Times, Newsweek, Time, and the Guardian, and his work documenting Alaska Native villages has been showcased in galleries across the United States.

A L A S K A H U M A N ITI E S F O R U M FA L L / W I N T E R 20 13

43

“I make photos to try to make sense of our fragmented, emulsified identities. I make photos of my neighbors, the parts of them that define Alaska and therefore me also,” writes Adams in I Am Alaskan.

The book is organized in four sections: I Am Alaskan; I Am Inupiat; I Am American; and I Am. “It’s a personal story, a portrait story about Alaska and identity in Alaska but also a personal story of my journey as a photographer in Alaska,” Adams said during a recent interview with Forum.

The photos in I Am Alaskan are divided about evenly between urban and rural settings. City shots include portraits of street musicians and skateboarders, including a striking image of the blood-streaked visage of local skater and filmmaker Ted Kim taken immediately following a spectacular wipeout.

Many of Adams’s favorite photographs in the book, however, were made in Alaska Native villages.

“There is no light so pure as that of rural Alaska,” he said.

One example is a shot of an ice-encrusted basketball hoop taken in the dead of winter in Shishmaref.

Adams and his wife Ash were in Shishmaref in 2010 for a project based on The Eskimo Cookbook, a widely-known collection of recipes compiled by children at the Shishmaref Day School in 1952.

“Our goal was to do updated portraits of the original authors,” said Adams.

“We’d just landed in Shishmaref, and we were taking a walk, and saw this basketball hoop on the edge of town. I stopped and took five or six frames and moved on, thinking, ‘Hmmm. That was pretty cool,’ but it wound up being one of my favorite photos I’ve ever taken.”

Adams points to the frozen hoop shot as indicative of his style of environmental portraiture – he tries to imbue every portrait with a sense of place. “Likewise, with landscapes, I like to have a human element, and a frozen basketball hoop in the middle of a whole lot of snow definitely qualified,” he said.

Chance occurrences played major roles in many of the photographs in I Am Alaskan. A couple of years back, Adams was on assignment in Newtok for

44

A L A S K A H U M A N I T I E S F O R U M FA L L / W I NTE R 2013

the Guardian, accompanying a reporter doing a story on coastal erosion. While the reporter was interviewing Newtok elder Peter John, Adams walked around the family’s house, where he encountered John’s son, John Peter John, practicing his bass for a gig with the Newtok Band. The result is a candid photograph that transcends if not openly defies stereotypes.

“The people in the village have a reverence for the land, water, and sky of Alaska that I have always carried within me,” Adams writes.

“Is it because I am Inupiat? Because I am Alaskan? Because I am a photographer?

On the whole, the images in the “I Am Inupiat” section of the book show Adams coming to terms with his identity as an Alaska Native who was born in Girdwood and raised in Anchorage.

“The first time I ever went to a village was the first family vacation we took

This page: John Peter John. Newtok, 2010.

Opposite: Hotel Lobby. Haines, 2010 That’s a lot of Snow. Anchorage, 2012.

‘I make photos to try to make sense of our fragmented, emulsified identities.’

— BRIAN ADAMS

anywhere in a plane. We went to Kivalina. I was eight years old and the idea was it was time for me to go back and visit my roots,” Adams said. “I just had fun running around and didn’t really develop a lot of respect for the villages until the next time I went there. That was in 2005 for my grandma’s funeral. I didn’t understand the village way of life until that trip, but I just fell in love with it and felt such a powerful sense of connection that I knew I wanted to document Kivalina and any other village I could get to however I could get there.”

Adams in October completed projects for the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation and Bristol Bay Native Corporation that got him to 13 villages in less than nine weeks. For the ASRC project, Adams made photographs for the newly completed hospital in Barrow. One hundred of his photos will be displayed on the hospital walls.

“I Am,” the final section of I Am Alaskan, concentrates on portraits of Adams’s wife, Ash, a poet and visual artist who oversaw the layout of the book.

The section includes a deeply intimate and touching photo of Ash cradling the couple’s newborn son, Elliott North.

It’s followed in the final pages by a portrait of Elliott in the arms of the midwives who delivered him.

“I barely know these women, but as midwives, they played major roles in the most spectacular event of my life: the birth of my son,” Adams writes.

“My Inupiat son. My American son. My Alaskan son.” ■ A L A S K A H U M A N ITI E S F O R U M FA L L / W I N T E R 20 13

45

FROM THE ARCHIVES / in memoriam

The Forum honors a passionate leader in the preservation of RussianAmerican history and culture.

Barbara Sweetland Smith 1936–2013

B

arbara Sweetland Smith, scholar, professor, historian, and longtime Alaska Humanities Forum grantee, passed away in March of this year. She was honored for her long career working in the fields of Russian, Russian-American, and Russian Orthodox history and culture.

Mrs. Smith was a teacher of Russian history, an author of multiple books, the guest curator of several exhibitions of national and international acclaim, and passionate about the preservation of Russian Orthodox Churches and Iconography. To forward this mission, Mrs. Smith was a founding member of Russian Orthodox Sacred Sites in Alaska (ROSSIA), Inc., a non-profit organization made up of preservationminded Native corporation leaders, Orthodox clergy, government officials, architects, and historians.

Current board chair Sheri Buretta stated, “Barbara was a founding director and driving force to help preserve Russian Orthodox churches in Alaska.

She was always willing to share her

46

A L A S K A H U M A N I T I E S F O R U M FA L L / W I NTE R 2013

St. Innocent of Irkutsk.

vast knowledge. I was inspired by her and continue my work on the churches because of Barbara and others with the same vision and understanding of the important history held by these beautiful structures. Barbara had a heart for history and love of the churches.”

Many leaders connected with the Russian Orthodox Church and ROSSIA, Inc. contacted the non-profit upon learning of Mrs. Smith’s passing.

“I was fortunate to have worked with [Barbara] in the first documentation effort at Kenai where we not only put together the architectural drawings for the church, but also inventoried and photographed every icon and historic object in it. It became the prototype for the documentation work she undertook for all of the Aleut churches in later years. Documentation that became the basis for the claim of damages,” stated Steve Peterson, former Senior Historical Architect for Alaska Region National Park Service As noted by Peterson, Barbara Smith’s work led to preservation work

for the churches on the Aleutian Pribilof Islands in the mid-1990s. Jake Lestenkof of Aleutian Pribilof Islands Restitution Trust stated, “Without her detailed work on the surveys, I doubt we would have succeeded in obtaining the funds necessary for restoration of the churches in the Aleutians and the Pribilofs.”

Dorothy Gray of ROSSIA observed, “The books [Barbara Sweetland Smith] wrote and the inventories she recorded are a lasting legacy to the impact she had on this entire state, its culture, and its people.”

We at Alaska Humanities Forum knew Barbara Sweetland Smith best through her grant-project work from 1986-2000. Much of this work surrounded aspects of three major exhibits—Russian America: The Forgotten Frontier, Heaven on Earth, and Science Under Sail: Russian Exploration in the North Pacific, 1728-1867—all of which took place through grants with thennamed Anchorage Museum of History and Art.

Russian America: The Forgotten Frontier The University of California Press publication The Public Historian (Vol. 13, No. 2, Spring, 1991) stated this exhibition was “Conceived as a timely contribution to the Goodwill Arts Festival held in conjunction with the 1990 U.S.-Soviet Goodwill Games.” The journal called the exhibition, “The first major exhibition on either side of the Pacific to tell the story of Russian exploration and settlement along the Pacific Coast of North America.” It included 4,000 square feet holding 700 artifacts, illustrations, dioramas and audio-visual presentations. Items on loan for the exhibit were from more than 80 American institutions, numerous individuals, and several countries. The exhibition opened in Anchorage in November 1991 and traveled to several other venues, both in Alaska and the U.S. Barbara Sweetland Smith and Redmond J. Barnett authored an accompanying book with the same title, on file in the Alaska Humanities Forum Archive Library, and Mrs. Smith and Dr. Stephen Haycox organized a symposium to further the discussion of the exhibition.

Grants to support surrounding aspects of the exhibition included $25,000 for the symposium in Anchorage, $4,000 for the symposium at the Alaska State Museum in Juneau, organized by Steve Henrickson, and $2,000 to support a film documentation of the exhibit. The Anchorage symposium gathered four Soviet and 19 North American scholars who presented 21 papers on varied Russian America topics over four days.

Heaven on Earth: Orthodox Treasures of Siberia and North America Held in conjunction with the bicentennial of Orthodox Christianity in North America, Heaven on Earth was the major summer exhibition at the Anchorage

Museum of History and Art in 1994. Using the unusual medium of liturgical art, the exhibit told the story of the odyssey of an Orthodox Christian mission from its roots in Russia, its flowering in Alaska’s Native Villages, to its status today as a major American national institution.

The exhibit featured 200 objects of Orthodox liturgical art gathered from Siberia, Alaska, Canada and the continental United States. Following its closing in October in Anchorage, the exhibit traveled to six cities across the U.S. for over two years and closed at the Field Museum in Chicago. Barbara Sweetland Smith traveled to each venue and provided education for museum staff, often giving public lectures as well.

The lasting legacy of the exhibition is a book of essays and an exhibition video, supported

by Alaska Humanities Forum with grants of $2,500, and $8,000, respectively. The book, Heaven on Earth, with colored illustrations of objects from the show, had a printing run of 4,000 copies, and sold out quickly. The filming for the 30-minute video was done at The Field Museum in Chicago, by Emmy award-winning Chicago cinematographer and editor, Mirko Popadic.

Science Under Sail: Russian Exploration in the North Pacific, 1728-1867 This exhibition told the remarkable story of the scientists and mariners who explored the far reaches of the North Pacific under the Russian flag from 1728-1867. During this time, the Russian Imperial Navy organized more than 225 international expeditions, which generated an abundance of information about the people, lands and waters of the North Pacific Rim. Included in the exhibit were over 400 Native artifacts, rare scientific specimens, journals and navigational instruments. The 4,000 -square-foot installation included a full

scale recreated ship’s cabin animated with the motion and sounds of the sea, a 40-foot long recreated shore camp, and multiple interactive elements.

The planning for this exhibition alone included two separate grants from Alaska Humanities Forum ($2,100 in 1996 and $4,500 in 1998) and more than $120,000 in cost share. Not only was Barbara Sweetland Smith an expert in her field, she also knew how to call in the forces of funding sources and academic advisors to support high caliber work.

The exhibit opened in May of 2000.

Alaska Humanities Forum funded two more aspects of the overall exhibition, including an $8,000 grant for a curriculum feature and a $9,000 grant for the international symposium held in conjunction with the exhibition. The curriculum, with chapter titles drawn from the instructions of Catherine the Great to Captain Joseph Billings in 1785, features six Russian expeditions and multiple accessories for classroom use. The symposium of 20 speakers from five countries included papers on topics related to science, linguistics, history, cartography and anthropology, each fully translated English-Russian and Russian-English.

Mrs. Smith’s archived papers surrounding work on these exhibits, correspondence, and founding documents for ROSSIA, Inc. are contained in seven boxes in Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center’s Archive.

Forty days after Smith passed away, flags of the Russian-American Company were lowered in Moscow and St. Petersburg, Russia as well as Sitka and Anchorage, Alaska. Russian Orthodox church bells rang in both nations to honor her memory.

“Barbara had a deep love for the Orthodox churches and a deep respect for the cultural and spiritual legacy of St. Herman, St. Innocent, and St. Jacob,” said well-known Russian-Orthodox elder Father Michael Oleksa. “Now I am sure they will all embrace her and welcome into the Kingdom of God with joy, in time for Easter, according to her faith, and thanking her for the many kind and generous deeds which adorned her life while she was still with us.” ■ A L A S K A H U M A N ITI E S F O R U M FA L L / W I N T E R 20 13

47

GRANT REPORT

The Forum supports a heritage curriculum that meets educational goals— and fosters creativity, insight, and empathy.

Trails Across Time

I

n 2005, the Kenai Mountains-Turnagain Arm Corridor Communities Association commissioned Alaskan writer and photojournalist Kaylene Johnson to produce the book Trails Across Time: The History of an Alaska Mountain Corridor.

“The non-profit [association] was dedicated to having the Kenai Mountains-Turnagain Arm become Alaska’s first National Heritage Area,” Johnson said. “As part of that effort, they asked me to write a book about the geologic, cultural, and transportation history of the area. Thanks to a bill sponsored by Senator Lisa Murkowski, the KMTA received a National Heritage Area designation in 2009. The designation recognizes this geographic corridor as a place that offers a unique contribution to the fabric of our country.”

The Kenai Mountains-Turnagain Arm (KMTA) National Heritage Area is one of 49 National Heritage Areas in the nation. Beginning in 2012, the KMTA National Heritage Area commissioned Marc Swanson, a resident of Seward, to develop a high school level Alaska history curriculum based on Johnson’s book. This curriculum is designed for use in schools throughout Alaska, to teach students about the history, geography and culture of the Kenai Mountains-Turnagain Arm region. It involves ten interactive lesson plans with guidance for activities and field trips, cross-referenced to meet

48

A L A S K A H U M A N I T I E S F O R U M FA L L / W I NTE R 2013

state educational standards. The curriculum is available for free online and can be used not only by public schools, but also by private, charter and home school students.

The Trails Across Time project was supported by a 2013 Alaska Humanities Forum general grant of $3,500. Its inquiry-based lessons are designed to satisfy the state’s Alaska Studies graduation requirement.

“The goal in developing the curriculum was to make the information in the book (and beyond) accessible to high school students and teachers,” Johnson said. “We wanted the curriculum to be engaging and relevant, offering students the process of discovery and learning within the KMTA National Heritage Area.”

The curriculum’s web page on the KMTA National Heritage Area’s site (www.kmtacorridor.org/curriculum) states, “It can be challenging to find an engaging, relevant curriculum that offers standards-based, problem-driven learning. The goal of the Trails Across Time curriculum is to meet that challenge while exploring the wonders of the Kenai Mountains-Turnagain Arm National Heritage Area.”

The curriculum includes a reading guide to Trails Across Time, lesson plans based on the chapters of the book, and a guide to 23 different field trip destinations, including the Road House Museum in Girdwood,

the Hope Museum, and Kenai Fjords National Park.

The lessons in the curriculum, as with the chapters of Trails Across Time, work through the history of the region, beginning with its geology in a lesson titled “Silent, Yet Restless Earth: Defining the Corridors.” The next lesson is titled, “The Early People of the Corridor: Connecting the Past.”

“This lesson sets the tone for the rest of the curriculum—that students have the opportunity and responsibility to work with community elders and primary resources in order to better understand the history of their region,” states the “Early People” lesson description.

Subsequent lessons cover topics such as the influence of the maritime industry on the region and the influx of settlers from Russia in the 18th century. Comprehensive and detailed, the curriculum covers the Gold Rush, construction of the Alaska Railroad and the Seward Highway, and the development of communities like Hope, Girdwood, Whittier and Portage.

The final lesson, titled “Research: Now it’s Your Turn,” challenges students to create a class-wide research project based on the subject matter they’ve studied. “A successful historical research project requires creativity, insight, evaluation, applied intelligence, and empathy,” states the lesson description. “Why empathy? Because

the ultimate goal is for the student to understand what the people were thinking, feeling, and acting ages ago.”

Examples of research project topics include “The Effects of the Railroad on the Kenai” and “The Gold Towns: Hope, Sunrise, Girdwood, Cooper Landing.” Whatever the topic, the curriculum states, it should “provide ample individual and independent windows for student research.”

New for this school year, the curriculum is well-received, according to Johnson.

“Our presentations about the curriculum and book have all been met with enthusiasm. Several schools have already made field trips to KMTA National Heritage Area sites based on the curriculum. Additional teachers are

making plans for field trips with their students in the spring of 2014. A number of teachers are using the online version of the curriculum... We’ve had a positive response from teachers who are finding the curriculum easy to use and helpful in meeting their classroom educational goals.”

In a recent letter to educators promoting the Trails Across Time curriculum, Johnson wrote, “Its most impressive virtue is that it recognizes that much of Alaska’s history is recent and can still be found in the remains of old cabins and in the stories of our elders. This curriculum asks students to look around them—to observe the landscape and culture that they may take for granted—and discover the story etched there.” ■

Robert Matheson discovered gold in Turnagain Arm, from Trails Across Time.

Hope and Sunrise Historical Society

A L A S K A H U M A N ITI E S F O R U M FA L L / W I N T E R 20 13

49

events

first friday @ the forum

T

he Alaska Humanities Forum launched its second annual series of First Friday art openings in September with “It is the Human Condition: Mindscapes,” a solo exhibition of new paintings by noted Anchorage-based artist Indra Arriaga.

October brought local carver and writer Donald Ricker’s highly anticipated show “Praising Thoth” to the Forum’s lobby gallery.

The selection process for the Forum’s 2013-2014 monthly First Friday exhibitions was competitive, with an open call for proposals that were evaluated by the end of August. Show proposals that articulated the humanities as a point of departure were highly considered.

Below is a listing of artists and dates for the November through May 2014 “First Fridays @ the Forum.” All exhibitions open on the first Friday of the month and then are on display during business hours until the first Friday of the month following.

First Friday openings at the Forum are free and open to the public.

They run from 5:30 to 8-ish p.m. Light fare and libations are served, the atmosphere is festive and casual, and the artists or artists typically give a short and informal discussion on his, her or their work sometime around 6:30 p.m.

The Forum is delighted to present work by an outstanding group of artists in our second year of exhibitions. We hope that you join us (more than once) this season. ■

November 2013 Sheila Wyne First Friday Opening: November 1

Sheila Wyne, from The Adaptation Series (at the Forum November 2013).

first friday @ the forum 161 East 1st Avenue, Door 15 In the Alaska Railroad historic freight shed along Ship Creek, downtown Anchorage. For more information on individual exhibitions, visit akhf.org or call (907) 272-5341.

50

A L A S K A H U M A N I T I E S F O R U M FA L L / W I NTE R 2013

December 2013 Enzina Marrari First Friday Opening: December 6

January 2014 Loren Holmes First Friday Opening: January 3

February 2014 Elizabeth Ellis First Friday Opening: February 7

March 2014 Alaska Immigration Justice Project First Friday Opening: March 7

April 2014 Clark James Mishler First Friday Opening: April 4

May 2014 Jennifer Kinney First Friday Opening: May 2

Loren Holmes (at the Forum January 2014). Anvik, C-Type print.

Clark James Mishler (at the Forum April 2014).

Shauna, Rita, Jaidyn and Shaylin at, Qagruq (Whaling Feast), Point Hope.

A L A S K A H U M A N ITI E S F O R U M FA L L / W I N T E R 20 13

51

ALASKA HUMANITIES FORUM

Non Profit Organization U.S. POSTAGE PAID ANCHORAGE, ALASKA PERMIT NO. 519

161 East First Avenue, Door 15 Anchorage, AK 99501 (907) 272-5341 www.akhf.org

FORUM

KWETHLUK CHILDREN’S HOME KATIE BASILE

first fridays at the forum LOREN HOLMES

COLLEEN

CLARK JAMES MISHLER

CLARK JAMES MISHLER PORTRAIT PROJECT

A CALL TO LOOK ANCHORAGE’S HIDDEN EYES

THE MAGAZINE OF THE AL ASK A HUMANITIES FORUM FALL 2013