I was commissioned by the Anchorage Museum to produce this piece for their permanent collection. The acquisition was funded by the Rasmuson Foundation. The painting, The Kal’ut Madonna, was inspired by my Alutiiq family and the women who worked the salmon canneries in my mother’s native village of Karluk.

Kal’ut is the Alutiiq name for Karluk, a once thriving Alutiiq/Sugpiaq village with an abundant salmon run on the Karluk River. My mother was born in Karluk and my great grandmother and grandmother spent a large portion of their lives there. As Alaska came under Russian rule, my ancestors processed fish for a wider Russian population. My great grandmother married an Estonian immigrant and only spoke Russian and Alutiiq. She died at a young age from tuberculosis.

This painting is dedicated to my Alutiiq ancestors, my family from Karluk and the sacred salmon that sustained them for over 4,000 years.