Recent Articles
Master Gardener Debbie Hinchey Speaking in Seldovia Thursday
by Suzie Stranik
Hi all, are you ready for some inspiring garden tips? Debbie Hinchey is speaking at my home Thursday, June 27th at 7:30pm. Put it on your calendar and bring all your garden questions. Remember last summer when Dr. Bob Bors from Saskatchewan came and spoke about fruit varieties that are hardy for Alaska? He showed us photos of his amazing “under the sea” breeding program with coleus. I have just received a small order of these unusual coleus plants that are perfect for the garden or also make great house plants. Come by and check them out. I also have a nice selection of mineral specimens at Thyme, including citrine, amythist, jasper. If you are having any aphid problems in your greenhouse I have one bag of lady bugs left. The weather is turning fine again this week, it will be a pleasure to jump back in the garden after some busy music festival days.
Please RSVP to me at 234-2060 or 440-2213 if coming to the garden club meeting today.
Thanks, Suzie
Canadian Dinosaur Museum to Visit Seldovia
by Rosanna McInnes
Friday, June 28th at 9:45 a.m.
Join us at the Seldovia Public Library for a family friendly live video teleconference from the famed Dinosaur Museum in Canada.
A science educator from the museum will introduce the science of paleontology, and then allow the kids to take the lead.
Watch as your children are inspired by each other’s curiosity.
Click here to learn more about the Royal Tyrrell Museum!
New Exhibit Opens at Seldovia Museum
by Jan Year
There are some new faces in the Seldovia Museum! Twenty-three of them, actually. Although they have been in town since last summer, they are just now starting to be seen. They remained unnoticed because they spent most of their time sealed in boxes in the Museum office. But now they have taken up residence in the Seldovia Museum and Visitor Center lobby, as the Seldovia Museum’s newest exhibit.
The faces belong to a collection of Yup’ik, Cup’ik and Inupiaq dolls. Collected over many years by Homer’s Gert Seekins, the dolls offer a window into life in some of Alaska’s most remote communities. The dolls are made largely from natural materials such as fur, bone, ivory, leather and even fish skin, and the skill of the artists is evident in the fine details of faces and clothing. Most styles of Alaska Native dolls are represented in the collection. Often a doll can be traced to a specific village in Alaska simply through the style in which it is made. The variations in traditional clothing and activities in different parts of Alaska are evident in the different clothing styles, materials and appearances of the dolls that come from those areas.
The exhibit title, “When I Remember, I Make a Doll”, comes from a statement by Eva Heffle, a well-known dollmaker who is generally credited with developing ‘activity dolls’. These dolls are shown carrying out the tasks and celebrations of traditional village life. The Eva Heffle doll in the Seldovia Museum is depicted using her teeth to crimp the leather around a mukluk seam. Ms. Heffle used her doll-making to keep alive the memory of the traditions she learned as a young girl growing up in Kotzebue – traditions she found herself starting to forget when she moved to the more urban lifestyle of Fairbanks.
Although we use the term “dolls” to refer to these figures, they were never intended to be toys. They are works of art and representations of traditional ways of life. Several of the artists whose work is included in this exhibit have had similar pieces included in collections ranging from the Alaska Native Art collection at the Anchorage International Airport to the Smithsonian Institution.
The Seldovia Museum is located on the first floor of the SVT building on Main Street, and is open 10:00 am – 5:00 pm, seven days a week. The doll exhibit will be on display throughout the summer. Come by the Museum and see this lovely and educational collection!