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North Alaskan Culture

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Culture is defined by Merriam webster as “The customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group; also : the characteristic features of everyday existence (as diversions or a way of life) shared by people in a place or time.(Webster)” People create culture. Culture is an aspect of life that is dictated by the land that the participants of the culture inhabit. In the case of the Native Alaskans of the far north, the visual culture is deeply rooted in the materials and resources that are available to them. The visual art culture of the high north was limited to the resources that were actively available for the Northern Alaskan peoples to work with. If you take a second to think of what types of …show more content…

In the High North caribou, walruses, and whales were the Native Alaskans primary sources of food. Because two of the three main food sources come from the sea, the North Alaskan boat culture was a pillar that the community was built upon.
While wood that was large enough for crafting was rare, when the Northern Alaskan Native cultures were able to gather wood it was used for building houses, boats, tools, masks, and other figures. Art is a western concept, the beauty of the Native Alaskan visual arts come from the visual design of mostly functional art. Functional art is seen in the designs that are included in the traditional boats, bowls, weaving patterns, and seen on the shaman’s items and charms.
The concept of visual arts changed after the Native Alaskan peoples made contact with the old world expeditions. Why did it change though? Was it the contact brought in new ideas and influences that affected the Native culture, or was it because the expeditions brought materials that affected the Native Peoples. With the presence of outsiders in Alaska different Alaskan Native arts were encouraged and other arts, like mask culture, were almost …show more content…

The culture of the entire region is evident in the visual culture of the high northern Native Alaskans. This definition of the visual culture medium may have been limited by the resources available but there is another way to view this statement. The limitation of resources gave the Native Alaskan people of the high north a completely unique sense of design from the rest of other Native Alaskan cultures. Simply using what was around made the visual arts cultures of the high north a unique and strong aspect of the northern culture as

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