2023 Fellowship Award

Kunaq, an Inupiaq artist from Nome, grew up learning how to prepare and store seal meat and oil for her family and community and to process seal hide to create maklaks and kamiks, two styles of traditional boots. She wants to work with local hunters to hunt seal on sea ice so she can complete the circle as a hunter-gatherer and artist to help revitalize her community’s traditional way of making.

Her goal is to bring back practical skills, so every household is well taken care of, especially in the hard winter months. She will also teach three classes within the Bering Strait Region on how to make traditional maklaks and host a culture camp that centers around the harvest and preparation of seal from food to art.

2019 Project Award

Tahbone will create Inupiaq fancy fur parkas with patterns from her ancestral homeland in Wales, Alaska, using hides from eight different Arctic animals. She will learn and teach traditional sewing, sustaining valuable cultural knowledge.

Artwork by Kunaq Marjorie Tahbone