I met two traditional boat builders at the show. One was from South East Ak. He had two scale model canoes on his table. One was finished and the other was not. He told to me that the unfinished one had not yet been steamed and bent into shape. He explained the process, saying it was the same as with full sized boats. It had to be done a certain way or the boat would have reverse rocker.
The other gentleman was an Inuit from Point Hope. I was drawn to his table by what looked like a canoe pole, with a traditional looking shoe on one end and a hook on the other. He explained to me that the shoe end was used to test the ice and the hook was used to pull seals that he killed onto the ice. He also had a large heavily built paddle that is used in an umiak, a large open skin on frame boat.
When I showed interest he showed me what his other stuff was for. As part of his hunting gear, in addition to the pole there was a float with a large treble hook attached to it. This was connected to a rope and was used to snag a seal the was killed off shore. There was also a small three legged stool. It was only about 8 or 10 inches tall and the skin "seat" was about the same. He told me that this was used to place his rifle on so it wasn't setting on the ice. Coincidently I saw some of this gear being used in a film that came up after watching the one Glenn posted. It was titled "Eskimo Hunter: North Western Alaska" It was from 1949 and was filmed in Point Hope. There was a scene where a man was using a bow drill. He had told me that his dad had used a bow drill, and judging by the mans age and the year the film was made, the man in the movie may have been his dad.
He also had a carved polar bear. He said the pose of the bear replicated the movement of the hunter dance done by men. He said the bear always leads with its left hand, as all polar bears are left handed.
I notice what looked like a model wooden frame that looked like the ones used to build a birchbark canoe. It had the stems attached to it. When I asked about it he told me it was a model of a 27 foot boat he had built. He called it a traveling boat because of its size. Whale hunting boats were only 18' and were much faster. The boats are skin on frame. The frame is made from driftwood and the skin is from the bearded seal. He showed me a piece of the skin left over from the build and pointed out the waterproof seam that was sewn by the women. He pulled out his phone and showed me a picture of the boat under construction. I asked if he had a photo of the finished boat but he didn't. In order to give me more information he told me about a particular whale hunt. It was him and another man in his boat and they saw another boat that harpooned a bowhead whale and they went to help. It took two and a half hours to kill the whale. He said that it had so many holes in it that it filled with water and sunk, which isn't normal. He explained how they towed the whale to shore. Using pieces of old tooled whale bone used as sled runners that he found on the beach to demonstrate. The two boats were side by side with the rope between them at midship going straight down to the whale. As they were hauling it he said that it came up to almost the surface and created a wake behind them. Then the dead whale made a dive towards the bottom flipping both boats, putting 11 guys in the water. He said this happened because they didn't tie down the whales flippers like they normally do. (probably because it sunk) The untethered flippers act like rudders and cause the whale to move erratically. None of the men knew how to swim and none had on lifejackets. Even though they were only about 50 feet from shore nobody got out of the water until another boat came and rescued them. They all survived, probably because of the bouyancy of their caribou fur parkas. Their clothing must be pretty watertight, he said he didn't get scared until his boots filled with water.
This is a very interesting event. The people are very friendly and art is a big part of their culture. A few of the venders had items on their table that were made by multiple generations of the family. From Grandma and Grampa to the kids, the art is passed down. I learned a lot, probably some stuff that you wouldn't find in books. Also met very interesting people. I was impressed by one man who told me that the whale tooth that was on his necklace had been in his family since the 1600's. The same guy made jewelry, which included silver chains. This interested my wife as she also made similar jewelry. She asked where he learned it. I was surprised when he said You Tube videos. But this goes to show that the Native art is now mostly a combination of the new and the traditional. This event is my favorite part of the Anchorage winter festival know as the Fur Rondeveau. It's a great time to visit, as among other things, there are the world championship sprint sled dog races and the ceremonial start of the Iditarod Race.
