Navigating Artistic Regulations

An Artist’s Perspective on Indigenous Art Materials and Resource Management in Alaska

Alaska Native art is legally defined as art created by a member of a state or federally-recognized tribe of Alaska Natives or a certified non-member artisan (Indian Arts and Crafts Act). Yet this legal definition does not reference the cultural expression and application of creative skill that makes Alaska Native Art a strategic expressive resource. Alaska Native Art is a cultural resource that impacts indigenous economies, cultural social networks, natural resource utilization, and political engagement. Through the creation of native art, an individual not only expresses their culture but also becomes engaged in the natural resource utilization and management in Alaska. However, the link between natural resource management and customary material harvest and utilization has been historically underappreciated primarily due to regulatory ambiguity and broad nature of artistic creation.

The harvest and use of these customary materials is governed by multiple state and federal laws across diverse management agencies. State and federal natural resource management agencies possess different interpretations for who may harvest natural resources for art, definitions of significant modifications of natural materials to create art, and priorities governing urban and rural access. Each agency applies different administrative codes to determine proper permitting for both personal artistic creation and the manufacture of marketplace authentic Alaska Native Handicrafts. However, this ambiguous labyrinth of regulation is constantly changing and adapting to new federal and state laws, treaties, and court rules.

It is the responsibility of the native artist to navigate this complicated mosaic of regulatory authority to harvest natural materials for art. Yet the foundation from which an artist begins navigating regulatory authority is often inadequately defined. It is the purpose of this MFA thesis is to provide an artist’s perspective on native art materials and resource management in Alaska.

Navigating Ambiguous Waters

Alaska Native Art still remains an important cultural and economic practice within Alaska. However, access to the natural resources for the creation of traditional art is subject to diverse regulations across a complicated mosaic of jurisdictional boundaries. Thus, as a river flows from the mountains to the sea, it will cross multiple jurisdictional boundaries. Transportation regulations, access permits, and harvesting laws will change as the artist travels across the diverse regulatory mosaic of Alaska. It was the purpose of Navigating Ambiguous Waters to illustrate this diverse regulatory landscape by illustrating some of the important natural resource managers in Alaska.

I replicated the logos of multiple land and resource managers in the state of Alaska including both federal and state agencies. In general, the state of Alaska administers most fish and wildlife harvests across the state. This includes state lands, private lands, and Native lands. Thus, the Alaska Department of Natural Resources manages all state water, land, and natural resources, except for fish and game, for the benefit of all Alaskans. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game manages all fisheries and game species on state-owned land. In comparison, federal public lands include lands managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and U.S. Forest Service. Each of these land managers can possess different access and harvest regulations. Thus, the piece Navigating Ambiguous Waters illustrates a river itself navigating a complicated patchwork of jurisdictional agencies flowing through its watershed down to its estuary.

Crafting Collaborative Relationships: Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge

The piece Crafting Collaborative Relationships: Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge reflects the collaborative nature of the refuge between USFWS and Sugpiaq and Alutiiq artists. As the Sugpiaq art renaissance continues; more artists are learning traditional techniques and material utilization. This has led modern Sugpiaq artists to acclimatize to navigating both federal and state regulations and permit requirements to acquire natural artistic materials. The piece illustrates the collaborative nature between USFWS and indigenous artists directly by utilizing the USFWS as an artistic resource material for the creation of a traditional beaded headdress. The base of the headdress is a USFWS uniform hat which is directly modified utilizing traditional and contemporary beads. The coloration of the beads on the base of the headdress are the traditional Sugpiaq colors of red, black, and white. The bead trail however, takes the coloration motif from the USFWS of federal red, white, and blue colors. In the case of Crafting Collaborative Relationships: Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge, the USFWS provides the base artistic material for the creation of traditional Sugpiaq art; thus, encouraging its fabrication while also directly learning from its creation.

NOAA Fisheries Management

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is a diverse agency that studies meteorology, supports and monitors marine commerce, and manages oceanic fisheries. The National Marine Fisheries division of NOAA is responsible for the stewardship of the nation's ocean resources and their habitat. As such, the National Marine Fisheries is an important agency in Alaska as they manage North Pacific groundfish (halibut), crabs, cetaceans (whales), and pinnipeds (seals).

Similar to Crafting Collaborative Relationships: Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge, I wished to illustrate an important artistic resource manager in Alaska. The majority of my fisheries management experiences occurred on Kodiak Island and the Alaska Peninsula. Given my personal fisheries background in the homelands of the Sugpiaq and Alutiiq people, I thought it was fitting to utilize a Sugpiaq style plank masks to represent NOAA and the National Marine Fisheries.

The piece NOAA Fisheries Management is a contemporary Sugpiaq style plank mask. The plank is made from driftwood that features the channels carved by wood boring bivalves. The logo of NOAA is prominently featured on the drift wood. Along the side edges of the mask are multiple attachments that illustrate the fish and wildlife that NOAA manages. The top attachment illustrates a halibut longliner to illustrate the local fishing communities in Alaska.

Bureau of Land Management

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) agency manages its public lands for a variety of uses including: livestock grazing, timber harvest, mineral and oil development, energy development, historical preservation, and recreation. The Bureau of Land Management is a unique land manager in the state of Alaska as it balances both conservation and resource development consistent with the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA). Within Alaska, BLM manages 70 million surface acres and 220 million subsurface acres (Federal mineral estate). Alaska possesses a total of nine National Conservation Areas managed by BLM specifically for nature conservation and the agency's only recreational area the White Mountains National Recreation Area.

The piece Bureau of Land Management is a celebration of BLM lands and management. The right beaded side represents the subsurface management and possesses beads to represent petroleum, minerals, and soil. The left beaded side is an continuation of the logo's river resources and abundant recreational lands. The BLM patch is presented as a trophy mount, complete with leather backing and wooden display base. As a trophy, the BLM patch stands as a testament to the adventures and experiences of individual resource users. Whether fishing, hunting, or pursuing recreational activities, the BLM patch stands as a visual reminder of the diverse lands under BLM management.

Family Management

Both my father and grandfather served as Fish and Wildlife Enforcement Officers in the state of Alaska from statehood to 2003. Their stories and first hand involvement in the management and regulatory history of Alaska's fish and wildlife resources greatly inspired much of my academic and artistic research. The state of Alaska's fish and wildlife resources are manged by people, yet few are able to see behind the curtain and appreciate their work.

The series Family Engagement is comprised of two beaded gloves featuring the logos of US Fish and Wildlife and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Beneath the gloves are family photos of ADG&G and USFWS employees from statehood to 2019. The photos illustrate the many hands that it takes to manage the state's fish and wildlife resources. Yet while the state and federal agencies may be distinct, only as a pair can they effectively manage the diverse resources of Alaska.

Tongass National Forest

The Tongass National Forest is the nation's largest national forest spanning most of Southeast Alaska. Established in 1891, the United States managed the timber reserves to supply a continuous source of timber for the economic needs of its U.S. citizens. Yet the Tongass National Forest is home to the Tlingit people who also depend upon these natural resources. As a resource material, timber stands were as important to the cultural practices of the Tlingit as salmon spawning streams. Cedar and Sitka Spruce possess a straight wood grain that enables the creation of long wood planks for the construction of long houses, smoke houses, and watertight containers. Cedar bark and spruce roots provided a durable and versatile material that women crafted into clothing, mats, storage containers, and artistic baskets. The small secondary branches of trees (withes) also possessed great tensile strength and produced robust ropes, burden baskets, and fishing nets. From roots to branches, almost every part of a tree was extensively used by the Tlingit.

The piece Tongass National Forest illustrates one of the most important resource managers in Southeast Alaska, the U.S. Forest Service. The piece is a contemporary button blanket that prominently features a modified formline design of the U.S. Forrest Service logo. Formline is comprised of three stylistic elements that are repetitively used: ovoids, U-shapes, and S-shapes. Utilizing the U and S shapes I directly mimicked the logo lettering. The tree itself sits upon a formline root system and trunk, while the main foliage mimics the original logo. Thus, the foundations of the Tongrass National Forest are directly rooted by the Tlingit people and culture. The beaded side borders of the blanket features representations of spruce, helmlock, and cedar trees. The top border features the distinctive red and yellow berries of the salmon berry plant.

US Fish and Wildlife

Dual Management

Artist’s residency is a contemporary limiting factor that has arisen in terms of regulatory permitting. This is a relatively modern distinction that started with the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) in 1971 that directed the Secretary of the Interior and the State of Alaska to take action to protect the subsistence needs of Alaska Natives. After ANCSA, the state of Alaska required the Boards of Fisheries and Game to provide preference for subsistence uses of fish and game in 1978; but failed to define who qualified as a subsistence user. This resulted in the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) in 1980, which defined subsistence users as rural residents and subsistence as customary and traditional uses of fish and wildlife renewable resources. Thus, rural residents were given priority for access to natural resource materials used for Alaska Native art.

However, ANILCA directly conflicted with the Alaska State Constitution that guaranteed all Alaskan residents equal access to fish and wildlife resources. For over two decades, the state of Alaska tried to define and adjust its subsistence laws into compliance with ANILCA. However, attempts failed and resulted in the federal takeover of Alaska subsistence management in 1999 on federal land in the state of Alaska. Today, Alaska state law (AS 16.05.940[32]) and federal law (Title VIII of ANILCA, section 803) differ in who qualifies for subsistence fish and wildlife harvests. Under federal law, rural Alaska residents qualify, while under state law all Alaska residents are qualified.

This dual management of Alaska's fish and wildlife resources is illustrated in the piece US Fish and Wildlife Dual Management. The contemporary mask features the logo of US Fish and Wildlife Service. Yet looking closely at the mask you can see a duplication of the salmon and ducks flying over the same landscape representing the dual nature of fish and wildlife management. Surrounding the mask are numerous attachments featuring the hands of the resource users both rural and urban. Thus the piece US Fish and Wildlife Dual Management illustrates the duplication of management.

ADF&G and USFWS

For the Yupik people, songs are important as they tell the history of the people, important social values, spiritual beliefs, and even modern events. For every song and dance, there is an continuation and strengthening of the culture. Traditional songs are still sung and danced at festivals, conferences, and community events across Alaska. Yet new songs and dance movements have also been created to reflect the modern world and current history of the Yupik people.

It is for this purpose that I created two paired Yupik drums featuring two prominent fish and wildlife managers in Alaska. The drum titled ADF&G (Alaska Department of Fish and Game) features the logo of the state fish and wildlife management agency. The logo itself features not only animals of the land, air, and sea that the state manages but emphasizes the diverse management of the state. The goose represents subsistence as waterfowl and geese are often harvested during the spring and summer months for subsistence. The caribou is an important species of game animal for sport and personal use hunters. The salmon represents the commercial industry and an important economic driver of the state. The second drum is titled USFWS (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) and illustrates the logo for a prominent federal fish and wildlife manager in the state of Alaska. Similar to the ADF&G logo, USFWS also features the sea with a salmon and air with a waterfowl. However, the logo directly shows an mountainous landscape rather then a distinct species of the land.

There are many modern stories to tell regarding Alaska's fish and wildlife management and harvest. From discussions of subsistence policies to the little known history of the Duck Wars, there are numerous stories to tell that both ADF&G and USFWS played an active role in. The pieces are intended to invoke new songs and stories that tell the history of fish and wildlife, important social values, traditional spiritual beliefs of harvest, and even modern events regarding subsistence. What stories will be told using the drums of fish and wildlife managers? The only way to discover them is to encourage their development by providing the space to dance and the drums to raise their voices.

Federal Caribou and State Caribou

My father used to tell me that a caribou lives by traversing the land, but only humans care exactly where a caribou is at any given moment. This is true in effect as when a caribou travels across mountain ranges and valleys, it traverses the diverse jurisdictional landscape of Alaska. Thus, an individual caribou is subject to different regulations and laws determined by where it happens to be standing at any given moment. As such, access to the natural resources for the creation of traditional art is subject to diverse regulations across a complicated mosaic of jurisdictional boundaries.

The piece Federal Caribou and State Caribou illustrates this conundrum directly by illustrating a caribou herd navigating between the boundaries of drums and jurisdictions. The two caribou hide drums illustrate a caribou herd crossing the borders between the two drums. The drums stand as distinct isolated units, yet the caribou transverse this barrier without any hesitation. The drums are made from raw caribou hide on a wood frame that is secured with caribou sinew. Flanking the drums are two separate caribou head mounts. The caribou head is carved from bass wood with wood stain and paint. The mounts feature velvet caribou antlers.

As for which caribou is under federal management or state management, simply wait a few hours and it will change with the migrating herd.

Miscellaneous Shellfish

All commercial shellfish fisheries in Alaska are managed by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. As such, there is a diverse range of shellfish species the state manages. The largest commercial shellfish fisheries are for crabs and shrimps. Any other species of shellfish are defined in state regulations as "miscellaneous shellfish". This includes: sea urchins, scallops, clams, sea cucumbers, squid, and octopus.

There is a thriving dive fishery for sea urchins, sea cucumbers, and geoduck clams. Yet there is no directed fishery for the giant north Pacific octopus. Rather, octopus can be retained as bycatch to other directed groundfish and halibut fisheries.

The piece Miscellaneous Shellfish, is a witticism on the need to classify and define fisheries through utilization and management. The piece features a contemporary formline of a Pacific octopus, complete with abalone suckers buttons. The piece is immediately recognizable as a octopus. Yet only when the viewer reads the title of the piece do they learn the classification of the shellfish species and under what regulations to follow for harvest of an octopus.

Miscellaneous Shellfish Bag

Similar to the piece Miscellaneous Shellfish, this piece takes a more indirect approach to the witticism of regulatory classification. Miscellaneous Shellfish Bag features a contemporary formline of a Pacific octopus on a large dance apron with moose leather pockets and pouch. The piece is immediately recognizable as a octopus with its eight distinct legs. Yet the title illustrates the grab bag terminology of classifying octopus as a miscellaneous shellfish.

Piece: National Eagle Repository

Across the United States, bald and golden eagles hold an important cultural significance to Native Americans and Alaska Native tribes. Feathers and parts of eagles are traditionally used during significant religious and ceremonial events. Many clans draw on the eagle as a symbol of cultural identity and directly utilize its parts to illustrate an individual’s cultural affiliation and heritage. Within southeast Alaska, Tlingit cultural identity is divided between two moieties, the yeil (raven) and the ch’áak’ (eagle).

Bald eagles were an ever-present aspect of my childhood as I lived in the town of Craig on Prince of Wales Island, the city of Kodiak on Kodiak Island, and city of Ketchikan. While I am a member of a federally recognized tribe called Ketchikan Indian Community, I do not possess any hereditary clan affiliation. This was problematic as I wished to participate in the Ketchikan Native community, but could not utilize the intellectual property of a clan that I did not belong to. The only exception to this rule was the use of the American bald eagle. As I am an American citizen, Native artistic mentors informed me that I can use the symbol of America as long as I stress its Americanism rather than simply utilizing the traditional ch’áak’ form. As a child I accomplished this by drawing more contemporary avian forms, or exemplifying the white and black coloration rather than the traditional red and black formline colors.

Yet my childhood relationship with eagles evolved and was also inspired by my father who was an Alaska Fish and Wildlife Enforcement Officer. As such, my father assisted the US Fish and Wildlife Service in the enforcement of the Lacey Act of 1900, Migratory Bird Act of 1918, and Bald Eagle Protection Act of 1940. It was my father’s job to collect both live and dead bald eagles and send them to the Alaska Raptor Center for rehabilitation or shipment to the National Eagle Repository in Denver, Colorado.

My father took great care in handling the remains as he often stated that the eagles would be distributed across the United States for use in religious or cultural items. U.S Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) provides exemptions for Federally recognized tribally enrolled Native Americans and Alaska Natives to use eagles as part of religious or cultural practices (16 U.S.C. § 668-668c, 16 U.S.C. §§ 703–712). As such, the National Eagle Repository was founded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to facilitate the lawful possession of eagle parts by acting as a central location for the receipt, processing, storage and distribution of bald and golden eagles’ parts and whole carcasses. To obtain parts of an eagle, a Native American or Alaska Native can submit a permit to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service which authorizes the individual to legally receive, possess, and create religious or cultural items from eagle parts obtained from the repository.

This fusion of both cultural history and wildlife law cumulates in the piece titled the National Eagle Repository. As a child, the National Eagle Repository conjured images of a federal bank with considerable stockpiles of frozen dead eagles that my father and hometowns contributed to. As a witticism of the National Wildlife Property Repository and my diverse cultural affiliation with the bald eagle I wished to represent this little known branch of the Office of Law Enforcement and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

The button blanket features three tlakwas (copper shield), a traditional symbol of power and wealth (Fair 2006). The tlakwa is often used as a decorative motif on regalia to represent wealth and in this case the National Eagle Repository. The illustrated formline designs of the tlakwas are eagles representing the three main native cultures of southeast Alaska: Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian. Yet the eagles possess human hands and receive their own tlakwa in a display of distributing wealth. Each tlakwa directly possesses two eagle feathers within the bottom two sections of the form to illustrate the main purpose of the National Eagle Repository as a distribution center for eagle feathers and parts. In a small witticism, I also use copper shields of the United States in the form of the 2010 Union Shield pennies as decorative elements surrounding the tlakwas and the borders of the blanket. Similar to traditional button blankets of the early 1900s, this blanket uses coins to directly emphasize the theme of wealth and prestige while also emphasizing the theme of the repository. The coins are displayed with the American Union Shield design facing the viewer to illustrate U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and federal law.

Inedible By-products

Many Alaska Native cultures possess a rich history of artistic expression utilizing migratory bird feathers, beaks, feet, and skins. From decorative elements of masks and dance fans to bird skinned parkas, migratory birds are important to Alaska Native Art. However like many natural Native art materials, numerous regulations are involved in the artistic use of inedible avian parts.

It always struck me as odd that I could harvest migratory birds for personal use, yet I could not utilize their inedible byproducts for traditional Native art. Often I would have to toss these prized artistic materials when I processed the migratory birds for food. Yet I still have access to feathers as an artistic material, mostly of the upland game or domestic variety. This distinction resulted in three distinct studies of upland game bird feather composition, Study of Grouse, Study of Ptarmigan, and Study of Inedible Byproducts. The intention behind this group study is to highlight the cultural importance of utilizing inedible byproducts of upland game birds in Native art.

For both pieces, I utilized the circle and dot motifs to symbolize physical and spiritual movements between two worlds. The circle and dot motif is used to illustrate the cultural and social importance of subsistence harvest as more than food security but of artistic resource procurement at the core of cultural knowledge and practices. Thus, the grouse and ptarmigan move from the inedible artistic materials to spiritual and culturally significant works of art.

The piece Study of Grouse utilizes both ruffed and spruce grouse tails and wings and a repetitive woven circle-and-dot motif of multiple concentric circles formed of yellow cedar bark and annuli of white canvas linen. The bar patterns upon the grouse tails and wings also complement the concentric patterns of the woven disk. The focal point of the piece is the large red bead within the very center of the concentric circles. The viewer’s eyes then radiate outward from the familiar artistic material to the blended natural materials of the cedar bark and linen, finally resting upon the inedible grouse art materials with their natural banded rings. Yet the central red bead draws the viewer’s eyes back across the concentric circles; thus traveling repetitively across the multiple circles and worlds of natural and artificial artistic materials of Alaska Native Art.

In contrast to Study of Grouse, the Study of Ptarmigan incorporates tails, wings, and preserved snowshoe feet of willow and rock ptarmigan. The focal point of the piece is a large white disk surrounded by a woven red cedar bark cord and large red beads. The disk is framed by ptarmigan feet resting upon the contrasting bold black tail feathers. Here the feet of the ptarmigan circle around the main white disk while the large red beads act as the interconnecting joints between paired tail and legs. Layered beneath the tails, the white wings radiate outwards with their subtle bold black bands creating a swooping motion outwards from the main circle and dot motif. Similar to Study of Grouse, Study of Ptarmigan narrative focus is the circle and dot motif which draws the viewer’s eyes directly upon the framing inedible byproducts that create the native handicrafts.

Study of Inedible By-Products maintains a more scientific quality as the wings and tails are displayed under glass in their raw salted unmodified form. The piece distinguishes itself as an active step in artistic resource procurement, yet draws analogies with Study of Ptarmigan and Study of Grouse as part of the transference of cultural knowledge through the creation of Native art. The circle and dot motif is used to illustrate the cultural and social importance of subsistence harvest as more than food security but of artistic resource procurement at the core of cultural knowledge and practices.

Comparative Analysis of

Native Art Materials

The piece Comparative Analysis of Native Art Materials was a chance for myself to truly assess the broad range of materials that I use for native arts. I challenged myself to create a piece that represents the diverse nature of native art materials while also reviewing the materials that I commonly use. The result was a large scale showcase featuring both traditional and contemporary materials.

Comparative Analysis of Native Art Materials possesses eighteen miniature woven baskets utilizing sinew, cotton thread, linen, grass, cedar bark, and fish skin. Raw natural materials featured include: bees wax, rye grass, red and yellow cedar bark, mountain goat wool, beaver fur, muskoxen fur, fox fur, calf skin, abalone shells, porcupine quills, and fish skin. Contemporary materials featured include: wool felt, cotton thread, artificial sinew, waxed linen, laminated paper, pennies, bone beads, glass beads, plastic beads, trade beads, and small glass specimen bottles.

Contemporaneity and Traditional Weaving

Native art is not a static art form; rather, it adapts and changes along with its artists in the modern world. From embroidery thread for grass Alutiiq baskets to decorative paper edger scissors for birch bark baskets; tools and materials will constantly adapt to the modern world. This does not necessarily mean that all artwork produced today is not traditional. Rather, native art is the application of traditional cultural expression in the modern world. New technologies or materials will be adapted for native art, but the artwork itself will always remain an traditional cultural expression.

Sea Green Bottle

Fishing Nets and Green Fish Bones

Ravens Tail Bottle

Checkers Series I and II

Checkers IV

Tlingit Diamonds

Native Pop Art

Non-timber forest products

The Alaska Department of Natural Resources (DNR) manages non-timber products that are derived from biological resources. Classified as Non-timber Forest Products (NTFP), examples included mushrooms, berries, sap, conks, cones, boughs, burls, diamond willow, roots, grass, and bark. Many of the weaving materials for traditional native art baskets are classified as NTFP. As such, native artists must follow NTFP permitting and regulations to harvest traditional weaving materials across Alaska. Alaska DNR has issued an Non-Timber Forest Product Harvest Manual which describes the authorized harvest protocols and landscape restrictions for NTFPs. Harvest of NTFPs for commercial use requires a "Limited Non-Timber Forest Products Commercial Harvest Permit.” Thus, Alaska native artists who intend to harvest NTFP weaving materials for the creation of native art to be sold or even used for business activities requires a commercial permit issued from Alaska DNR.

The piece Non-Timber Forest Product is a contemporary Sugpiaq style plank mask. The mask is a direct representation of the importance of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources (DNR) as a native art material manager. The plank is made from cedar and features logo of Alaska DNR prominently on its base. Along the side edges of the mask are multiple examples of NTFP used by artists. The top attachment is diamond willow, the left attachment is rye beach grass, the middle right attachment is spruce roots, the bottom right is red cedar bark, and the final top right NTFP is birch bark stitched onto the dowels with spruce roots.

Beaded Byproduct Bags

The Beaded Byproduct Bag series is an study of significantly modified. Significant modification is referenced in numerous laws and regulations including CITES and MMPA. The degree of modification is used to distinguish commercial authentic Alaska Native handicrafts. The legal definition of Alaska Native Handicraft as a "finished product that has been substantially altered to increase its monetary and aesthetic value from an unaltered natural material by skillful hands" (36 CFR § 242.4, 50 CFR § 18.23, Hoffman 2005).

In contrast, Alaska Native Art is more broadly defined as "an artistic expression of creative skill by an Alaska Native individual or tribally recognized artist." This definition of Native art focuses more on the creative process and visual form of the artwork rather than the amount of material alteration or modification. Yet most land managers utilize the Alaska Native Handicraft terminology to draw distinction between commercial and personal use artwork in terms of harvest permitting and resource allocation. This is due to substantial modification permitting requirements for trade, barter or sale of artwork featuring natural materials (36 CFR § 242.4, 50 CFR § 18.23, 50 CFR §92.6). The Beaded Byproduct Bag series illustrates three different degrees of modification for the creation of art. The viewer is then presented with the debate of whether any of the bags are considered a Native Handicraft.

The first bag in the series is Wolverine Paw Bag created from a tanned wolverine paw with claws attached. The bag is made with a leather backing and has a simple beaded chain attached. Wolverine Paw Bag features the least amount of modification, yet possesses its own natural ascetic. The second bag is Black Bear Bag and features a beaded black bear on a moose leather bag with a black bear paw and ermine fur trim. However, both hides are not highly modified. The whole ermine pelt circles the bag from tail to whiskers, and the bear paw is stitched onto the bag with the claws attached. The final bag is titled Beaver Tail Bag, and possesses the highest degree of modification. The bag consists of moose leather and tanned beaver tail leather. The front of the bag features a beaded swimming beaver, the top possesses beaver fur trim. Beaver Tail Bag possesses a high degree of modification as the beaver fur and tail are tanned and further cut and stitched together to form a bag. Collectively, the Beaded Byproduct Bag series directly illustrates the variation of modification that an artist must consider during the artistic process.

Details of Wolverine Paw Bag

Details of Black Bear Bag

Details of Beaver Tail Bag

Native Art is Not Always a Handicraft

Definitions of Native art and native handicrafts are fraught with complex regulatory narratives, which have led to confusion between the art forms. Yet Native art is distinct from native handicrafts in terms of not only cultural importance; but also in terms of materials and processing of resources used to create the artwork. A prime example of this is the legal definition of Alaska Native Handicraft as a "finished product that has been substantially altered to increase its monetary and aesthetic value from an unaltered natural material by skillful hands" (36 CFR § 242.4, 50 CFR § 18.23).

The Material Studies Series arose from my exploration of pure Native art form of limited altered natural materials. The first of this series created was the Birch Bark Study which focuses upon the textures and colors of natural birch bark. The birch bark was soaked, cut, and stretched over canvas and secured with heavy duty staples. The only modification within the piece is the use of decorative edge scissors for processing the strips of birch bark. The piece itself focuses upon the contrasting natural colors of the birch bark and the native flora and fauna that grow upon the exterior of the birch bark. Birch Bark Study emphasizes the unmodified natural material created with an emphasis on the aesthetic value of the unaltered natural material alone. Thus, the piece successfully fulfills the objective of achieving a distinction of a Native artwork that is not a Native handicraft.

Cedar Bark Study expands upon my original exploration of limited altered natural materials by directly contrasting a limited modified cedar bark mat with the original unstriped and split cedar bark coil. The lightly modified cedar bark matt features distinct bands of yellow and red cedar bark that is split and stripped and woven in a plated style simple matt. This mat is surrounded by a thick unprocessed coil of yellow cedar that was originally stripped from a tree. Cedar Bark Study highlights the process of stripping and thinning the raw cedar bark into the more manageable pieces for weaving. The border coil illustrates the thickness of the cedar’s bast or secondary phloem tissue in contrast to the typically split and thinned weaving wefts and warps seen on woven baskets. Thus the artwork emphasizes the modification process rather than the final piece by illustrating the natural material in multiple states as an unaltered natural material and a simplified woven example.

Caribou Hide Drum is a minimalist drum that highlights the natural coloration of the skin and hair follicles. Unlike tanned hide, the drum utilizes raw caribou hide that is soaked then stretched over a drum frame. Strips of raw hide were laced around the drum to secure it to the frame. The piece Caribou Hide Drum blurs the line between Alaska Native Handicraft and Alaska Native Art. The caribou raw hide has not been been substantially altered to increase its monetary and aesthetic value such as serving as a canvas for painting. Rather, the piece's monetary and aesthetic value comes directly from its natural material that was created by skillful hands. This leaves the viewer with a question, is the piece an unfinished Alaska Native Handicraft or an minimalist Alaska Native Artwork.

Black Square Bear takes the exploration even further then Cedar Bark Study as the main focus on the piece is the essence of the black bear hide. While one of the obvious artistic influences for this piece is Kazimir Malevich’s Black Square; the piece highlights the regulatory modification of natural artistic materials. In this respect, Black Square Bear firmly focuses upon the essence of the raw material rather than the process of artistic creation of handicrafts. I purposely limited myself in terms of modifications and embellishments that would distract from the piece. Rather, I focus instead on the pure essence of the artistic material in its most raw form. There is no interpretation of handicraft within this piece, yet it’s simple and raw presence draws the viewer to their own interpretations and possibilities. Like all Native artists, it is the possibilities that drive them to explore the materials.

Conclusion

The purpose of this MFA thesis was to provide an artist’s perspective on Native art materials and resource management in Alaska. To accomplish this, I created both traditional and contemporary Native art that highlighted the diverse natural resource managers, complex regulatory narratives, and the legal definitions of authentic Native handicrafts. As the viewer first enters the gallery, they are presented with the numerous natural resource managers in the piece Navigating Ambiguous Waters. This piece sets the tone for the first exploration of the numerous agencies, but also permitting requirements and the dual nature of Alaska natural resource management. Some pieces are direct representations of management agencies such as Tongass National Forest, and Crafting Collaborative Relationships: Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge. Artistic representations of the diverse land managers span the right and back wall of the gallery.

However, as the viewer travels further along the wall back towards the front of the gallery, the pieces become more subtle in agency and more focused upon acquisition of natural art materials such as the National Eagle Repository and Alaska DNR Non-Timber Forest Product. Both require a more contemplative reflection of the title to truly understand the piece, or immediate phone web research that many artists have conducted themselves when first confronted with regulatory permitting. More of the natural colorations and individual artistic materials become readily visible or directly referenced.

Finally, the left wall closest to the gallery door, the art primarily focuses upon illustrating and exploring the natural artistic materials, and the creative process of Native art. The pieces that best represent this exploration are Study of Grouse, Study of Ptarmigan, and Study of Inedible Byproducts. It is at this juncture that Study of Cedar branches off to explore the creative process of Native art and the amount of material alteration or modification required for processed handicrafts or natural Native art. The final piece within the gallery closest to the door is Black Square Bear. The viewer is left with only the pure essence of raw natural art material's. This directly contrasts with the first piece just adjacent to the door Navigating Ambiguous Waters. This drives the viewer to reflect both on the materials possibilities for Native art and handicrafts, but also reminds the observer of the ambiguous waters that the artist must navigate creating Native art.

By the end of the journey, the observer will have navigated the ambiguous waters of natural artistic material harvest and utilization. As the spectator traveled through the gallery, they have gained a basic understanding of the ambiguous regulatory uncertainty in Native art creation and natural resource management. However, even if the onlooker only comes away with an appreciation of the diverse range of land managers or artistic expression through natural materials; I have accomplished my goal.

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