The Alaska Art Experience

An Exhibit of New Work by Native Alaskan Artists Ron Senungetuk and Barry “Schgunaa” Smith

Opening reception: Thursday, November 11, 6:30pm

Exhibit dates: Nov 11 - Dec 22, 2010

Ron Senungetuk is an Alaskan Inupiat who grew up along the Bering Sea in Wales, the most western point on the American mainland. Retired from academics, he continues to be an active, vibrant artist living in picturesque Homer, Alaska on Kachemak Bay in the southwest side of the Kenai Peninsula. Ron is regarded as Alaska’s foremost living Native artist and founded the Native Arts Center while he was chair of the art department at the University of Alaska Fairbanks for 30 years. His pieces in carved and colored wood build on the traditions of the Bering Sea people, but have a timeless elegance that make them both challenging and contemporary. Ron is the major force behind the resurgence of contemporary native art in Alaska and has stimulated & supported the careers of numerous native artists, who have gained renown in their own right.Barry “Schgunaa” Smith is an Alaskan Tlingit artist from Juneau in southeast Alaska along the Gastineau Channel of the Inside Passage. Long before Joe Juneau mined gold in this region, the Tlingit people called Juneau Dzántik'i Héeni, “the river where founders gather". The Tlingit tradition tells of ancient times when their ancestors were animals and each matrilineal group was made up of Ravens or Eagles. Barry is an Eagle from the Orca clan. He carves natural material, such as woolly mammoth ivory, walrus ivory and orca teeth using traditional Tlingit/Haida guidelines to create masterworks of expression that are rooted in the traditions of northwest native people, but speak clearly to all with an appreciative eye, willingness to touch and an open heart.

To view a documentary about artists Ron Senungetuk and Barry Smith visit:

http://charlottesville.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?publish_id=264