Yup'ik artist Patrick Minock will be featured for January's First Friday at the Alaska Native Arts Foundation in downtown Anchorage. "Honoring my Father, Milo Minock" is the name of his solo exhibition, dedicated to the memory of his father, mother and son. His realist drawings depict scenes of the modernization of communities along the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers.
Milo Minock, whose Yup'ik name was "Taapack" and "Uluarralek" (meaning "one with a fish cutting knife"), attended boarding school in Holy Cross, where he was introduced to drawing and painting. Milo served in the Alaska Territorial Guard, then worked in canneries and as a deputy marshal to earn cash to supplement his family's traditional subsistence lifestyle.
He was not formally trained in art; he drew and sold his pieces for less than 50 cents. Milo practiced art as time allowed and believed the way of life needed to be captured to preserve the Yup'ik culture and practices.
Patrick's opening reception features his own illustrations of cutting fish, hunting scenes, dancing and expressions of the modernization of Yup'ik culture. Patrick was born and raised in the community of Pilot Station, along the lower Yukon. His first language was Yup'ik. He attended a Bureau of Indian Affairs school before studying art at the Institute of American Indian Art in Santa Fe, N.M. He learned about painting, sculpture and jewelry-making and about color abstract -- the many ways that different dimensions that colors vary -- composition and realism. He said he stuck with what he knew, faces and landscapes from inspired by his father, Milo.
As a teen, Patrick said he mostly drew cartoons, comics and animals. As he grew older, his interest in his father's style of art grew. He began drawing Natives subsistence hunting, fishing, gathering and dancing. He illustrated the way things were done, with spears and tools of ivory or bone points, and the way of life following the seasons, like gathering logs and berries in the summer.
"Life has changed from half a century ago with modernization," he said.
He observed that non-Natives have learned traditional ways, like Yup'ik dancing, where the locals demonstrate the movements to others, and share the language and stories. Songs are often comedic or tragic, and passed on for generations. Patrick's work illustrates the expressions of culture.
Patrick said his favorite time of the year is spring, a season with a meaning of renewal. There is a sense of relief coming out of winter, where dancing, entertaining, hunting and checking fish traps are way of life.
Patrick said his new exhibit is "very sharp, detailed and carefully done," and captures a place in time.
Visit the Alaska Native Arts Foundation at 500 W. Sixth Ave. in January to view "Honoring my Father, Milo Minock."
Trina Landlord is the executive director of the Alaska Native Arts Foundation. She can be reached at trina(at)alaskanativearts.org.