Koniag, Inc.

Koniag, Inc. tribal museum, the Alutiiq Museum, will advance and renew the lost art of skin sewing through Nuta'at Mingqusqat: The New Sewers' Club. This 18-month project will educate developing adult skin sewers, recruit new sewers, establish intergenerational ties around instruction and practice, develop educational resources on skin sewing, and enrich community knowledge of the art. The project will start with a one-week trip to the National Museum of Finland to study the Etholen Collection, a large and rare sample of ancestral Alutiiq skin clothing. Using what was learned from the trip, Master Sewer Susan Malutin will travel to rural schools to lead workshops on skin sewing, and work with members of these communities to produce pieces of a child-sized caribou skin parka. Developing adult skin sewers will assemble the parka during sewing circles at the museum. A DVD of the project will be produced to document the project.