At a tidy home studio in East Anchorage, Drew Michael leans over his work table, rough shaping a wooden mask about the size of a large serving platter. Strips of wood spread across the table as he gouges and scrapes by hand.
Michael is a Yup’ik and Iñupiaq artist who creates interpretations of Yup’ik-style masks with contemporary embellishments like bright colors or modern metals – often incorporating religious or other spiritual concepts within the traditional aesthetic.
The Anchorage Museum will launch a new fellowship next year designed to support artists in Alaska and the Circumpolar North. The program was designed and conceived by Michael, who wanted to give other artists an opportunity to focus on their craft without worrying about day to day logistics.
He was inspired to create the Drew Michael Artist Fellowship Endowment after he had his own residency opportunity at the Institute for American Indian Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
“That whole time, I was able to focus on my art,” Michael said. “They gave me a space to live. They gave me an artist stipend. They gave me a vehicle to drive around in, because where I was staying was so far away from where I was going to be working at the school. And they gave me materials money, and that whole month, I was able to focus on creating a whole body of work.”
When Michael didn’t see anything similar in Anchorage, he wanted to give other artists the same opportunities he had.
“And I give credit to the time that I was able to spend focusing, like kind of separating from my entire life so that I could focus on creating,” he said.
One or two artists will be selected a year for the residency. The museum will provide artists a stipend for expenses like materials or research and access to their archives and collections.
The endowment is meant to support young or emerging artists from Alaska or the Circumpolar North with a focus on people, place and ritual.
“I think if we're able to culture share and share about how we're living in these places, connecting to these places, maybe we could learn, maybe we could grow in who we are in these places,” Michael said.
When Michael brought the fellowship idea to museum director Julie Decker, she was immediately on board. Michael had already promised a financial gift to the museum in his will, so he and Decker worked out a plan to create his fund through the museum’s endowment or permanent savings account.
Brooke Wood is the Director of Strategic Philanthropy at the Anchorage Museum. She said the endowment met its goal of raising $100,000 and they are hoping to recruit artists who connect people, place and ritual while engaging with those concepts in new or unique ways.
“So we really seek to tell the story of Alaska and the north, to inspire people to give them an understanding of this place, how it provides for them, how they can care for it,” Wood said.
The Drew Michael Artist Fellowship Endowment is on track to begin residencies next year.
More information can be found on the Anchorage Museum website.
