HARVEY POOTOOGOOLUKInupiaq Born: Shishmaref, 1928 Residence in 1986: Shismaref
Personal statement by the artist from "ALASKAMEUT '86, An Exhibit of contemporary Alaska Native Masks" edited by Jan Steinbright, Institute of Alaska Native Arts, 1986, pages 48. "In the spring and summertime some white people come to Shishmaref to buy my carvings. My dancers, I make open mouthed like they are making noise. I put their faces up, just like people when I see them when they dance. My drummers, I make like that too. Sometimes I make smiley faces. Some white people that come over to Shismaref say they like the faces that way, not mean. I make my designs up from my mind. I don't use a book. "When I first started carving about 15 years ago, there was a lot of whale bone around. Right now it's pretty hard to get the bones. People always pick them up and keep them for themselves. I guy the baleen from Anchorage. The whales don't come by Shismaref; only the dead ones; but no longer, now that there's a limit on hunting. Before that we use to have lots: dead ones. We'd pick them up and get baleen. Not anymore. In the old days we used to also get the meat from the dead ones. The meat on the bottom side was still good. "I never carve too much now at one time because I run out of material." |