Kotzebue 7

Here are some drawings of some traditional drawings and Native Kotzebue winter clothes.  The gloves were worn by some girls while dancing in bright kuspuks.  

Kotzebue 6

Kotzebue 5

Here's some drawings from the 2nd and 3rd day, with some traditional food we were graciously offered during a Potluck in the village of Noatak, which we flew into from Kotzebue.  Afterwards, we flew into Red Dog Mine for the afternoon, which comes later in the sketchbook.

We had a community potluck the next night in Kotzebue with more food like freshly harvested Ptarmigan eggs and Agutak, made with seal oil.

Finally, Pat and Nathan joined in a traditional Tlingit song they knew from Southeast Alaska with the Mayor of Kotzebue.

Kotzebue 4

Here are a few more pictures from Kotz. The first two are from a large banner with different panels from each of the villages that feed into the larger Kotzebue community.  I liked the 'Eskimo' figure fighting the old timey boxer and the fist with the no circle around it to drive the message home.

The last picture was this great out of focus, back lit picture of a man on a boat holding a bird pinned to a dusty cork board in the Bering Air lobby.  It was out of place and wonderful in its own way.

Kotzebue 3

More wall hangings from the school.  

Kotzebue 2

This was a  portrait hung above the entry to the cafeteria in the Norvik School.  

Kotzebue 1

I just had the chance to go to Kotzebue for four days as part of this year's Emerging Leaders Dialogue  and I brought along a sketchbook.  The trip was fascinating, but the first day started with a long session in the Noorvik School cafeteria/multipurpose room, which resulted in what turned out to be one of my most productive sketch diaries.  I just got the whole thing scanned and I'll post up the pages over the coming weeks.  

The first few images are from the grand wood and metal Native carvings in the cafeteria.  My eyes were drawn to them all three days we were in the space.