Alaska Insight is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and by viewers just like you.

Thank you.

A better understanding of his own life and helping others through art is at the heart of mask carver Drew Michael's work well.

Masks have brought me around the world, and they've also helped me understand who I am.

Now, Michael is using his success to create a fund to give emerging indigenous artists of the North a chance to deepen their connection to artistic expression.

We'll hear about his new projects and his vision for helping other native artists.

As drew, Michael joins us right now on Alaska Insight.

Art can inspire us, provoke us, and transform our thinking.

Alaska Native mask carver Drew Michael's creations do exactly that.

He joins us tonight to discuss his own journey to artistic discovery and his support of other artists.

But before we get to that discussion, here are some of the top stories of the week from Alaska Public Media's collaborative statewide news network.

A Bering Air plane with ten people on board failed to arrive in Nome Thursday after departing from Unalakleet.

Flight records indicate the plane, a Cessna Caravan, was flying at around 3400ft when it stopped transmitting its location on Thursday afternoon, Nome's fire chief said in an interview on Thursday night that the pilot had planned to stay in a holding pattern over Cape Nome until the runway cleared.

At the time of the disappearance, the National Weather Service reported just one mile of visibility in Nome, with light snow falling as of Friday morning, the plane's whereabouts were unknown and a massive search effort was underway led by the U.S. Coast Guard with support from the Alaska National Guard and state troopers.

The Trump administration's push to reduce the federal workforce nationwide could have substantial impacts to Alaska's government services and economy.

Late last month, the administration offered millions of workers seven months pay in return for voluntary resignations.

Separately, some federal workers have received emails warning they could be fired immediately.

The implications of such cuts would reverberate across Alaska, which is heavily dependent on federal spending.

Much of that goes to state and local governments, private contractors and nonprofits.

Just the portion paid in wages adds up to $1.4 billion a year.

It's not clear how many federal jobs in Alaska the Trump administration may cut, or if legal challenges might eventually restore them.

Leaders for Alaska's branch of the union representing workers with the VA say they cannot get clear answers about potential cuts.

Anchorage police shot and killed a man on Tuesday, who they say was waving a gun as he walked down East Tudor Road, pointing it at people and cars, including a school bus.

In a statement released Wednesday morning, APD identified the man as 33 year old Francis Roshan and wrote that after encountering police, he began to raise his gun despite repeated verbal warnings from police.

The statement indicates that video footage showed muzzle smoke appearing as the gun was raised, indicating that he may have fired it.

However, a spokesperson for the department couldn't confirm that Roshan had fired at an officer.

While this is the third police shooting in Anchorage this year, it is the first where police fatally shot someone and follows eight police shootings in 2024.

You can find the full version of these and many more stories on our website Alaskapublic.org or download the Alaska Public Media app on your phone.

Now onto our discussion for this evening.

For almost 30 years, Drew Michael has been working as a contemporary artist and designer, carving Yup'ik style masks with his own personal spin on cross-cultural influences.

Alaska Public Media's Matt Faubion and Ammon Swenson take a closer look at his process and his path to self-discovery.

On a cold afternoon in East Anchorage.

Drew Michael is in a shop next to his house.

Hard at work on his next project.

Watch out.

Wear your safety glasses.

These moments spent with wood chisels and paint are what Michael likes to call time to pray.

A lot of times they draw our design and kind of meditate on who are you maneuvering?

And then when I'm working, I kind of think about that through the whole process, especially if I'm making like a memorial mask or something where it's representing a community or a specific idea.

Michael creates that representation in Yup'ik style masks.

You see, there's that grain.

Drawing from his Yup'ik and Inupiaq heritage, Michael carved stories into his art pieces, hoping to take viewers on a journey of transformation.

Some of my imagery that you'll see I think about healing because masks are used to tell story and transformation.

And so I'm trying to tell stories about finding, finding or connecting to the higher self and the creator and the spirits around coming along, getting into the mask making was kind of like another step into my own understanding of who I was, kind of looking through the eyes of the mask into who I am as a you pick an Inupiaq person.

Michael was born in Bethel and raised in Eagle River.

Growing up, Michael said that he never felt connected to this ancestry.

I've been always asking that question is who am I?

Especially like Yup'ik and Inupiaq and Polish.

I remember growing up in Eagle River and not seeing very many people of color, even native people, and I felt it wasn't my place or something.

I didn't know how I fit into that.

Michael's mother noticed that he was developing a passion for drawing and painting.

I think my mother saw and needed me to connect with my culture and so she encouraged me to take a class at the university.

At age 13, while under mentorship of legendary Inupiaq artist Joe Sunangutak.

Michael began to carve his own path.

That path has led to his work being featured all over Alaska and all over the world in places like Seattle, Portland and France.

These are all going to be here long after I'm gone.

But that story will be there.

It's like part of my legacy is to tell what's happening in this world through masks to lift up our our way, our way of life.

Rethink what you see.

Now as an established artist.

Michael wants to give back to his community.

Teaming up with the Anchorage Museum to create the Drew Michael Artist Fellowship Fund.

So far, they've raised $100,000 and planned to begin next year in Anchorage.

With help from Ammon Swenson, I'm Matt Faubion.

Joining me tonight to discuss his artistic journey and his support of other artists is Drew Michael.

Drew, Always good to see you.

Hello.

Hello.

Thanks for having me.

Yeah.

Great to have you here.

So during the video, you talked about that sort of meditative, prayerful state you're in while working on something new.

It was really fascinating.

I was fascinated by hearing you ponder, who are you when you're drawing and first beginning a new mask?

Tell us about how this starts to clarify in your mind, how that emerging mask starts to become clearer through asking this question.

And do they have a voice?

Depends on what the focus is, the kind of the story that I want to think about.

But I've I've done a piece where it was so vague on kind of my idea of what it could be.

I actually built the main form of it, and I walked around it for an entire month, so there could be a long timeline in between, like starting to collect material and then allowing that story to come to me by kind of giving myself time to reflect and think about what is happening right now, and how can I tell a story within a mask and give it personality because it tells me who it wants to be?

That is so fascinating.

And when people commission masks, how do you know what to create for them?

Do they have their own ideas or do you get to know them and then suggest a design based on that knowledge?

Or how does that come together?

That's sometimes the hard part is when I created a large piece for Alaska in Juneau, that was the piece that I had to walk around it for like a month, because the only thing they asked me was, can you create a Yup'ik mask?

And I was like, what does that mean?

Because there's so many different ideas of what, different styles of masks.

They honor different spirits, whether they be of animals, the land, the weather, illness, transformation.

So it can take a long time to find a story.

And, I sit down with a piece of paper and I allow my thoughts to calm, and I almost, like, meditate and, kind of push everything out so that I can focus on what, who this being wants to be.

You have a show in Seattle right now, is that correct?

What?

Tell us about the focus of that work.

Yeah.

At the Sacred Circle.

Star break Gallery in Seattle.

Well, actually, that Waters Edge show just, kind of finished up.

We wrapped it up, but now a lot of the pieces will be moving over to the Stonington Gallery.

But that focus for that show was.

It's called the Water's Edge.

And I'm wearing a pin.

That shows kind of the, a mask in an area right by the water.

So I wanted to think about the the water that is around us and how we, use it to travel or to find food or, for nutrients for to to live.

Sustain life, sustain life.

So, yeah, I, that whole show was the series was focused on water.

You studied we saw a photo of you and, the incredible Inupiaq artists, the late Joe Senungetuk How did you work to sort of bring the ancient forward into modern connections?

Well, I was I was like 13 or 14, so I was too young to do the class by myself.

So my father went with me and, that's when I was introduced to mask making.

And then the basics on how to work with, hand tools like chisels and gouges.

But, when I first started, we wanted to replicate the things that we had seen in books or from Joe's culture, because that was where he was coming from as an artist and his perspective.

So we I learned some, Inupiaq style masks and then also a you pick style mask.

And I kind of replicated what I saw in books.

But as I got older, I realized it's it's important to be able to understand why somebody was trying to tell a certain story with a mask, in their time.

Because I can use that kind of concept to think about my life and the world that we are in and tell a story similar, but with the lens of today.

You also studied in Santa Fe.

Tell us about how that helped you develop your vision forward.

And I think there's connections to the work that you're doing today with the residency.

Yeah, when I was in Santa Fe, I spent a month there, working in the, the wood shop, which was awesome.

They had all the tools I needed, and every morning I would go run out into the desert and, kind of have my meditation.

And I was able to draw out a whole series of masks or sculptures that connected to the place of Santa Fe and that area, and then that whole body of work reflected the colors, some of the, shapes that I saw there.

And then even my, experience being there, finding some quietness and my own reflection time in the desert.

So that all came out into, my work.

And that is kind of the focus of this residency is like connecting to the people, the place and having like, some kind of ceremony.

So that's, that's why that residency started even because of the, the residency fund that I started was because of the impact of that time that I had.

And we.

Saw the value in having, being allowed that time and not having to worry about the pressures.

Every day.

Every day life gets.

In an earlier interview, drew, you mentioned the different functions for masks in the past.

They were made for hoping for good harvests or for other survival needs.

When you're creating modern masks now, how do you bring modern needs and considerations into those?

You talked about the water.

Talk a little more about how you bring those things together today.

In contemporary times.

As well as, some of the clip that we saw on the short video kind of took different parts from many years of my career.

But one of the things that you saw, we did Elizabeth Ellis and I did that large aggravated organisms project, and we focused on things that were ailing us today and our health.

And yeah, so we had ten masks that represented each one.

And then we were able to transform those through fire and like release that.

But those are the same kind of ideas.

I'm thinking about what happened today, what's happening now, and how can I tell that story in a way that helps us maybe find balance, or healing or connecting to being grounded, finding our truth throughout all of the other things that are happening in the world.

So, Yeah, let's talk a little more about aggravated organisms, because that was such an amazing project.

Giant maps, they were five foot tall, correct?

Three foot by four foot and three foot by five foot.

Yeah, yeah.

Very large.

Stunning painting by Elizabeth.

They represented the ten most prominent diseases within Alaska.

Yes, yes.

And how did that particular idea come to you to put, you know, masks that represent the physical ailments that can befall us?

What what was the thinking behind that?

And then talk about where you took them.

Yeah, we we were thinking about like what's happening in the news, what's happening in the world, what's impacting us and how can we talk about it.

And since I'm a mask maker, we wanted to focus on I would make a mask and then she would paint it, since she's a painter.

And we thought, well, what impacts us today?

Right now, how can we tell that story?

And it was about, kind of microorganisms interacting with us, whether it be like bacteria, fungi or, other disease, other kinds of, cancers and things.

So, we she was able to explode, expand the image of those, the impact on our bodies, what they look like on a cellular level.

And then, over time, we realized when we had our show, we wanted people to connect with the masks.

And that's part of what?

Masks are so important when you have a community, you can share a story and people can interact with that story.

And after three and a half years, we thought we needed we couldn't carry all these.

The weight of that, the impact of these diseases, because we had people sign the backs, they had been affected and, And you took them around the state.

Did you know?

Yeah, we went around the state and then we even went to Seattle and like, we went to Fairbanks for a year and we were at all over different, many different places, and we just couldn't carry all of that.

And one person told me that, like, usually when somebody wears a mask, they're carrying it on their face and they're holding it and they become they kind of embody that.

But when we created that whole show, it was like we were carrying the whole community kind of, and we felt like we needed to release that because that's a lot of, energy to hold on to.

So we had to release that in a transformative way with fire.

I remember so well when you told me what the plan was initially, I was shocked because the mask is so amazing and powerful, and I thought, what, you're going to burn them?

But the fact that the Anchorage Museum set up these, it was so extraordinary.

Here we were in the middle of the city, and you and Elizabeth, held a ceremony there.

And it's funny because museums are known for preserving art.

So we were kind of like, let's release it.

And I think there was actually a preservation in the like action, the happening of, the transformation.

And people still come up to me and they say, like, you're that guy who helped with this mask ceremony.

And like the I am still affected by that.

And I just want you to know.

So it was like it was kind of, lodged into history in our time and our understanding.

And I hope my art now can do that.

That was a long time ago, but I think, there are other times that I use masks to help transform.

Well, I know it's certainly had stayed with me and had a huge impact on me being there.

It was an honor to be there and cover the event.

And to see hundreds of people there, all different folks witnessing and being in community was really everyone crying.

Everyone can.

Hear.

A lot of your masks, have a third eye talk about what?

What you're messaging there.

Yeah.

Well, for a while there, I kind of went through different phases.

I went through Christianity, and then I started doing some like meditative yoga stuff, and then I started thinking about the energy we carry within our body and then the energy that's all around.

Everything that we have around us carries energy somehow.

And so the third I, I want to encourage people to always remember to think about their higher self, think about, their connection to the higher power or God or the creator or however you want to think about it, but always trying to allow yourself to be open to change and maybe finding balance, like being grounded, but also being lifted up by what could be, you know, Your heritage is you pick Inupiaq and Polish you and I.

Sure.

Thank you.

Common.

Well, I have an affinity because I also have Polish heritage.

How do you work to bring all of your heritage and and ancestry together?

When you're carving?

Well in the Polish.

The Polish, it's interesting.

You know, I don't know.

I don't know how I really bring that in.

Like tangibly, but, but who I am and my makeup, coming from different sides of the continent and kind of the world, I feel like I'm kind of living in the middle, and so I'm able to take those different perspectives and then bring those into my work.

But, and then it's also interesting because you pick an Inupiaq or different to with the, styles of masks.

So, I think I'm probably more focused on the UVic side because, masks were so transformative and they even influenced the Surrealists and the artists from France and around the world.

And so it's so interesting to think about the impact of the, the worldview and the spirituality that came with our masks as native people.

So I think.

That goes well beyond Alaskan communities.

Right?

Right.

I know it's like world impact.

Yes.

Fantastic.

Do people that commission mass for specific types of transformation or release that they desire, or do they sometimes do they destroy them through fire or breaking, or do they mainly just want to put them on the wall?

Good question.

Well, it's interesting.

Right now I'm doing a project with Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, with their immunization program, and we're doing a, Covid community mask project.

And so we're traveling around and asking people to create their own images on paper maché masks of their experience through Covid.

And then we have a talking circle, and we talk about this impact, and everybody shares their their mask in the story.

And then, I compile all the stories and the images and I create, I bring a large mask out that I carve and I then I paint it with kind of a consolidated, message or story from the community about what they went, how they went through Covid.

And I've asked communities like, you can do whatever you want with it.

What do you want to do?

Are you going to like, bury it, or are you going to put it on the wall?

Or are you going to burn it?

Like, what are you going to do with this?

And oftentimes people want to keep these masks on the wall.

So they want to have them around because they help tell a story and remind us of, the things that we've gone through.

So in doing this project, how did people come together around that?

Because I remember talking to you about this and you said that, you know, people came that denied there was even a pandemic, but somehow people were able to sit in the same room and work on something together, which seems so important now that we can do those things in, in community.

It was so important and it was beautiful to see the differences.

Actually, I thought it was important that, polar sides of thinking were able to sit at one table and be together and, just listen because there's no judgment when we're talking about our experience.

It's about, being there and understanding, trying to understand.

And in a way, we're allowing people to, to speak about the things that were hard or, what impacted them.

And then maybe the community can help support each other.

And, and I think even in some ways there's there are some, viewpoints that may change a little when we start to understand other people's point of view.

And I think to get people in the room, it's really about having strong community, connections.

And, and then the invitation to be able to share.

And I think art hopes break down that, that a little bit of that tension.

So yeah.

Kind of a distraction so that you're.

Hearing with no judgment.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Fantastic.

Let's talk a little bit about the residency program.

And in full disclosure, I made a modest donation to it.

So I should put that out there.

And tell us about your goals here.

You want to help support artists of the Arctic?

Is that right?

Both Alaska and other Arctic nations?

Yes.

So I think it's really important.

My goal was to, first of all, create a space for artists to kind of forget about the rest of the world and the things that they have to care about housing, work and food.

So I wanted to create a fund that would provide, housing, transportation, work space, materials, money, and then even an artist fee.

So, that was the beginning point.

And then now there's, a point where, like the focus is the people placed in the are not ritual ceremony because ritual is like something that you do over and over again.

But if somebody is coming in as an artist for the first time, they'll be trying to engage the community somehow.

So, what was the other part of it?

I well, so your vision in about 30s or so, your vision for the next few years, I believe that you're already been successful enough to to stand up a residency.

Correct.

Right.

So this year we are we have enough funding.

We've reached $100,000 to, for the endowment.

And now we can have one residency per year and maybe have some partnerships with other community people, like, or organizations like you might be able to partner with us to expand what a residency can look like.

But for the for right now, we're going to start out with one residency, 2 to 4 weeks.

Right.

Thank you so much for being here tonight, drew.

It's great to thank you.

Spend time with you again.

Art can inspire and trigger every emotion.

It can reflect joy, rage or leave a forever question.

Art can help us come together even during times of great conflict.

It can motivate, change and help open an emotional path to self-discovery and understanding.

And for many, that can lead to releasing past pain and moving forward with more inner peace.

It connects us to each other and to culture.

Explore the work of Alaska's artists.

Lean in and be inspired.

So that's it for this edition of Alaska Insight, visit our website Alaskapublic.org for breaking news and reports from our partner stations across the state.

While you're there, sign up for our free daily digest so you won't miss any of Alaska's top stories of the day.

Thanks for joining us this evening.

I'm Lori Townsend.

Good night.