Leeteg of Alaska?

Here is a pair of (dusty & poorly photographed) velvet paintings that were given to my parents as a wedding gift from my uncle in 1961. He was living in Kotzebue, Alaska, a very small village up above the Arctic Circle, at the time. On the back of one of the paintings is written, "Ellen Goodale, who paints under her maiden name of Henne, has become very well known all throughout Alaska and the world west. Her home is in Anchorage, Alaska, and until recently has been painting scenes mostly of Interior Alaska. This is one of her first attempts at capturing the personality of the Arctic Eskimo. Her visits to Kotzebue have produced some beautiful and strikingly realistic portraits of the character and expressions of these people. She has reproduced on velvet here almost perfectly the happy face of Tillie Agheak and the somewhat shy and reserved smile of brother, Wilber."

My uncle married the tribal chiefs daughter and although he was an outsider, he was 'adopted' by the village and given a native name. In the mid-50's he was the principle engineer in charge of bringing phone service to the northern most reaches of the American territory of Alaska. Remember, it wasn't just Hawaii that came into the union in '59!

As a child these painting were my first taste of exotic black velvet images of beautiful indigenous peoples.

So where is the forum for Totem Central? :)

"Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement".
Jim Horning

[ Edited by: Okolehao 2007-12-30 15:45 ]

I totally agree..Where is Totem Central???