April, 2026 First Friday w/ Tamara Burgh

“I discovered the book “Alaskan Igloo Tales” (c. 1974, illustrations by G. Agupuk) years ago while working in Nome, AK’s Indian Education Art and Culture Program. At that time, the stories in this book felt strange and distant from modern Native culture and experience.

My self-studies in myth, history, Native cultures, and spirituality renewed my interest in the fascinating and inspiring stories in “Alaskan Igloo Tales.” I’ve chosen to visually reinterpret the book’s Inupiaq-identifying stories based on my new understanding, gained through studying Joseph Campbell’s mythic language and symbols.

This project started with two residencies at IAIA in Santa Fe and continued with a residency at Makotaay Art Village in Taiwan. I’ve illustrated all thirty stories in watercolor. These watercolor sketches serve as composition and color studies for moku hanga, a Japanese woodblock-style printmaking process.” learn more.