"Indigenous Night" to feature Sámi reindeer exhibit, Native American art Jan. 22

HANCOCK – Finlandia University's Finnish American Heritage Center will feature two exhibits during "Indigenous Night" from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 22. Both exhibits are free and open to the public.

The exhibit, "The Sámi: Reindeer People of Alaska" is on display at the Finlandia University Finnish American Heritage Center Archive, Hancock, through Feb. 15, 2009. It honors the Sámi herders who traveled to Alaska from Norway in the late 1800s to teach reindeer herding subsistence skills to the Yup’ik and Inupiaq Peoples of Alaska. Sámi scholars Nathan Muus and Faith Fjeld will give a presentation about the exhibit, and Muus will perform joik (Sámi throat singing). Muus and Fjeld will also visit several area schools.

Also part of the Jan. 22 "Indigenous Night" is an opening reception for Native American artist Carl Gawboy from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., with an artist talk beginning at 7:15 p.m. The reception is free and open to the public. This exhibit of Gawboy’s work is featured through Feb. 13 at the Finlandia University Gallery, which is in the Finnish American Heritage Center.

Sámi reindeer exhibit

In 1894 and 1898, 137 indigenous Sámi reindeer herders and their families from Norway were hired by the United States to teach reindeer herding subsistence skills to the Yup'ik and Inupiaq. After their three-year tours of duty in Alaska, many of these Sámi Reindeer Project herders remained in Alaska, married into Alaskan Native families, and helped build the large reindeer herds that provided food, clothing and transportation for Alaskans during the Gold Rush and into the 1920s and 30s.

"Until this exhibit, the public has largely been uninformed about the contribution of the Sámi herders and reindeer husbandry to the history of Alaska," said Gary Kaunonen, archivist and curator of the Finnish American Heritage Center and Archive. "There is growing public interest in this chapter of Alaska history."

The exhibit focuses on the first two generations of the Sámi reindeer families who settled in Alaska . It includes photographs of these early settlers; a map of the Alaska reindeer stations, including the locations of the Sámi herding families; route maps of the two expeditions; and a Source Book containing a Reindeer Project chronology and abbreviated genealogies of the Sámi Reindeer Project families’ first two generations in Alaska.

Also part of the exhibit is a collection of authentic examples of decorated tools, household items and clothing used in nomadic reindeer herding. These items include scrimshawed knives, a carved reindeer bone spoon, a hand loom for band weaving, a pair of winter reindeer fur boots, a wooden pack saddle for reindeer and reindeer skin purses and coffee bags.

From 2004 through 2007, "The Sámi: Reindeer People of Alaska" exhibit traveled to seven Alaska village and native community museums, the Alaska Native Heritage Center in Anchorage and the Nordic Heritage Museum in Seattle. For more information about the Sámi exhibit, visit www.baiki.org.

The exhibit’s appearance in Hancock is sponsored by Finlandia University , Finlandia Foundation National, Suomi Seura, and the Center for Environmental Economic Development, which administers the exhibit.

For additional information about the exhibit’s appearance at Finlandia University, please contact Gary Kaunonen at 906-487-7347 or gary.kaunonen@finlandia.edu.

"Transforming the Cutover" by artist Carl Gawboy

Son of a Finnish mother and an Ojibwe father, Carl Gawboy, the youngest of eight children, was raised on his mother’s family farm in northern Minnesota. Gawboy decided early to become an artist. He was determined that his art would not be falsely romantic, but would draw on his unique childhood experiences to tell the story of his dual heritage. Whether harvesting rice, duck hunting, or making hay, the subjects of Gawboy’s work carry the authenticity of an experience lived.

For this exhibit, "Transforming the Cutover," Gawboy borrowed a phrase he first heard at a workshop.

"I first heard the term 'Cutover Lands' at a workshop conducted by Arne Alanen," Gawboy explains. "He was referring to a geo-cultural region encompassing Upper Michigan, Northern Wisconsin and Northern Minnesota. This region was occupied by the Ojibwe peoples, and their land-use patterns included a maple sugar industry and participation in the fur trade."

With the introduction of mining and logging to the region, life changed for the people living on the land. Mining brought large numbers of European immigrants, while logging corporations clear-cut vast tracts of land and left behind acres of stumps, branches and broken tree tops. It was on this deforested land that a farming culture arose.

"There was hardly a tree left to build their cabin and barns," notes Gawboy. "Piles of dead branches and tops made the land susceptible to fire. Building agriculture communities was hampered by the short growing season and poor soils. Yet, the characteristics of a community took root: cooperatives, one-room schoolhouses, 4-H clubs and dance halls."

By the 1950s most of these farms disappeared with trees and alders overwhelming the fields and rock piles.

"People who lived on the land were held in utter contempt by the miners in town," says Gawboy. "Suddenly in the 1950s rural real estate was the next industry to sweep through the north. 'Country' went from a symbol of rural poverty to a status symbol. As a witness to these changes, I saw my artistic mission to record the life of the people of the cutover to the best of my memory and ability."

In his art Gawboy focuses on bringing to life scenes of Ojibwe culture that, until now, have not been documented by painters or photographers. He paints with historical accuracy and often challenges popular and academic paradigms about American Indian cultures.

Gawboy has exhibited his work nationwide, including at the Eitlejorg Museum, Indianapolis, and the Great Turtle Museum, Niagara Falls, New York. He was also a cartoonist for the New World Finn newspaper, and these cartoons are collected in the book, In With the Finn Crowd.

The Finlandia University Gallery is in the Finnish American Heritage Center, 435 Quincy Street, Hancock. Gallery hours are Monday to Friday 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; Wednesday, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.; or by appointment. Please call 906-487-7500 for more information.