June Simeonoff Pardue
Sutton
About the artist
June Simeonoff Pardue is a Sugpiaq and Iñupiaq artist from Old Harbor on Kodiak Island who lives in Sutton, Alaska. As an elder and culture bearer, she builds connections by creating contemporary ceremonial clothing and regalia. She incorporates traditional materials (gut, hide, grasses, beads, bone, fur and fish skin leather) with modern materials like Teflon-coated silver wire and natural stones to link traditional forms techniques and materials with the present day. Her Individual Artist Fellowship Award in 2021 supported study of fish skin garments and culture. She has mentored artists through presentations, workshops and residencies, connecting makers to culture for more than 50 years.
2021 Fellowship Award
Pardue will study ethnographic fish skin pieces and traditional stitching to improve her sewing skills. She will harvest willows and turn fish skins into leather to sew a contemporary Alutiiq garment reflecting designs created by her ancestors.
2022 Award Necklace
Each year, Rasmuson Foundation invites a prior-year Individual Artist Award recipient to create unique, hand-crafted necklaces for the current year’s awardees. For the 2022 cohort, Pardue created luminous medallions of beaded and pigmented salmon skin. For the Distinguished Artist and President’s Award, the necklaces feature complex colorways with unique dentalium/beaded fringe and leather cord, while the rest are edged with beaded lace and cords with bone and beads.
“Subsisting on salmon has been a way of life for many Alaskans, and making use of many parts of the salmon is a Native value that I honor,” Pardue said. “I couldn’t help but think about fellow artists and how we’ve emerged from tough times, sometimes upcycling material to create beauty that we can share. The fish skin medallions celebrate artists and their diverse gifts of creativity.”
Artwork by June Simeonoff Pardue
This art was purchased through the Alaska Art Fund managed by Museums Alaska.
