COMMISSIONER THOMPSON: The
next individual who signed up is Miranda Wright. Miranda?
(Pause.)
We have our -- while Miranda's getting ready, we have -- our Chairman joined us. Mary Jane, you're welcome to join us as well. Okay.
(Pause.)
I was just looking at that.
(Laughter.)
MS. WRIGHT: Good morning. My name is Miranda Wight. I am originally from the village of Nulato. I'm an Athabascan; and I've lived in Fairbanks for over 20 years. My husband and I -- who's also Athabascan -- have been in business throughout these years: construction, land development, sled dog racing, and I've also had a cottage industry making fur hats, parkas, mittens, and other traditional garments.
And today I'd like to address an area of economic development in the state of Alaska that I feel is overlooked. And I don't know how many of you have been next door to the craft show that's going on, but there are fantastic things in that room; and people just think:
"Oh, another little tourist room."
But this cape that I brought here as a display is an example of the sophistication that our Native artists have developed. They have taken traditional art and have now turned it into contemporary expression; and there are just wonderful things. This cape, I think; the lady figured there are something like 75 flow -- or beads in each flower; it is all hand, stitched; it's on home-tanned moose skin that has not been smoked, that's a white background; it's a Native-trapped beaver. I mean, something like this, to me, should be in the Nieman Markus catalogue.
I've seen a lady wearing a beautiful cloisonne pin that was representative of a Yup'ik mask, with the beautiful lines of the mask.
I saw another Inupiaq lady with a hair barrette that was fashioned from the traditional baleen basket; and on top of that was inlaid an ivory-carved piece. It was gorgeous.
Again, traditional art in a contemporary expression. The earrings I'm wearing are Athabascan, smoked moose skin and beads, another expression. I mean, they have taken the -- all the traditional qualities, and it's still wearable art. Our people always had art, and it was always wearable, and it still is today; but it's, an area that I feel is totally overlooked. You see things in the tourist shop, and that's it. But this other area of Native expression, I think, needs to be developed. There needs to be some type of an international market developed for our Native people. And that's basically what I'm looking at.
I've looked at the Christmas catalogue of Nieman Markus. Right now, Native American art is really a hot item. The -- if you open Nieman Markus' Christmas catalogue, they' re sponsoring funds for the Native American Museum. I think there's potential out there that we need to tap into; but the Native people don't have the expertise; and I think it's an area that the State can certainly help in developing some type of a network -- a marketing network for our people. And that's basically what I wanted to address.
COMMISSIONER THOMPSON: Mary Jane, did you want to testify?
CO-CHAIR FATE: Further, Miranda brought a -- well, excuse me, Mr. Chairman, I'm --
COMMISSIONER THOMPSON: You're violating your --
CO-CHAIR FATE: -- only here to --
COMMISSIONER THOMPSON: -- own rules, please.
(Laughter.)
CO-CHAIR FATE: -- oh, (laughing), excuse me.
COMMISSIONER THOMPSON: Your name, and your community, and do you have a prepared statement?
(Laughter.)
CO-CHAIR FATE: Well, I only came as a partner with Miranda to moral support; and I'm just to sit here and be quiet. But Miranda did bring up previously, and it's in her notes (laughing), that she thought of some long-term solutions; and one meaningful thing is to have -- start having some promotional guidelines' leadership from the state and federal, in especially marketing, developing our arts and crafts, using more innovative newer ways and materials that are local in the state of Alaska. Why not have -- what do call it? -- conventions or seminars, and go -- you mentioned international.
MS. WRIGHT: You know, there's a lot of trade shows that are held, but we don't seem to have anything like that in Alaska, or there is no opportunity for the Native people to network with some of these trade shows; and I think this is an area that is a real big concern, at least to me, and I think it practically should to the state also.
CO-CHAIR FATE: And with the tourist -- the increasing tourist development in all the regional, this is an area that we have to start now, because it's going to be -- we're going to be selling foreign objects, huh? --
MS. WRIGHT: That's right.
CO-CHAIR FATE: -- to the visitors; and we want to be proud of our -- and keep the economy here; keep the green dollar here.
COMMISSIONER THOMPSON: Thank you, Mary Jane. Questions -- oh, any questions of the ladies? John or. . .
(Pause.)
MS. WRIGHT: Well, we were trying to calculate the number of beads in this cape, and we lost count at about 100,000.
COMMISSIONER THOMPSON: Wow.
MS. WRIGHT: So you can see the dedication, the time, that the artist put into an article like this; and it's sophisticated art. And I think it's --
MR. SHIVELY: And what --
MS. WRIGHT: -- I think the asking price for this cape is three thousand.
COMMISSIONER THOMPSON: I was over there this morning. We might as well give the artist a plug. That's Dee Sloan from Fairbanks.
MS. WRIGHT: Dee Sloan, yes. (Laughter.) An Athabascan artist from Fort Yukon.
COMMISSIONER SEBESTA: If --
COMMISSIONER THOMPSON: Father Sebe -- I'm sorry, John?
MR. SHIVELY: No.
COMMISSIONER SEBESTA: Okay. Oh, Miranda, I was just going
to ask if you could -- if you would see this as a -- -let’s say an industry
developed maybe region-wide, or how did you see that development taking place?
I think that, you know, it's exciting. It's an exciting thing to consider,
because I think it's something which -- cottage industry in villages, where
people produce the art work for sale to provide some money for themselves;
but the organization of it. I was wondering if you had given any thought
to that?
MS. WRIGHT: No, I hadn't given much thought to the organization. I think something like that, if the opportunity were to be there for the Native people, they have a way of -- their internal network would pull that together. And -- whether it was going to go on a regional basis, I don' t know. Maybe Mary Jane has some suggestions on that.
CO-CHAIR FATE: Well, (laughing) --
COMMISSIONER THOMPSON: There is -- John, I can't remember the company; but there is an -- in the last catalogue that's being put together that is trying to market some Alaska Native arts and crafts in a -- on a catalogue basis; and it's a private entrepreneur out of Juneau, who is actually seeking funding right now to develop this catalogue that she would market -- or the individual would market the -- and Alaska and other economies in other states as well. It's just a thought. John?
MR. SHIVELY: Yeah, Mr. Chairman, if I might comment. We -- I mean, I -- this is excellent. I mean, this -- because, I mean, it fits culturally; it fits to where people live. We, about a year ago, decided that it was the area at NANA that we've ignored, and we put a person in charge of a company we now call Inucraft (ph.), that is responsible for buying out of the local villages, selling in our tour operation at Kotzebue, but also we have a major outlet in Anchorage, and we've just developed a catalogue. And this is all -- I mean, we're experimenting with a lot of things.
We happen to be fortunate, since we some retail outlets, because of our food-service activities on the Slope and in other places; and, at this point, in terms of the catalogue, we're looking at providing it in-state to people we do business with, or -- and some out of state; and then some mailing to tourists that come to Kotzebue, since we know they have some interest in going -- in what's going on north of the Arctic Circle.
But I think that there needs to be better organization of some of this, because the market, if we're going to make it grow, has to go out of the state; and a lot of the tourists just don't buy -- I mean, it would be a rare tourist that would buy this. I mean -- and they tend to buy at the lower end; but not always, I mean, we had one -- in the small gift shop in Kotzebue this summer, we had one $8,000 day. So, I mean, occasionally you (laughing) --
MS. WRIGHT: Those are far and few --
MR. SHIVELY: -- you just (laughing) --
MS. WRIGHT: -- between though.
MR. SHIVELY: Yeah, they are. But I -- it's -- I think
it s an excellent point, and we're -- I’m certainly glad you testified.
COMMISSIONER THOMPSON: Any other questions? If not, thank you, ladies. We do have four people signed up.
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