UA Museum, Simon Paneak Memorial Museum to Restore Nunamiut Kayak

Submitted by Kerynn Fisher
Phone: (907) 474-6941
05/02/03

The University of Alaska Museum in Fairbanks and the Simon Paneak Memorial Museum in Anaktuvuk Pass are joining forces to restore the only remaining Nunamiut, or inland, kayak.

Simon Paneak, a respected Nunamiut hunter and frequent collaborator with arctic researchers, built the kayak for the UA Museum in 1972. Made from willow from the Brooks Range and Canadian white spruce, the frame is fitted together without using nails or other imported materials. Unlike other Eskimo kayaks, which are traditionally covered with sea mammal hides, the Nunamiut kayaks are covered with caribou skins, which are sewn with sinew and babiche and sealed with tallow. The kayak, measuring 19’2 1ò2" and weighing only 29 pounds, is the only remaining Nunamiut-style kayak in existence, and has been since it was constructed.

In its first few years in Fairbanks, the dry Interior climate took its toll on the kayak. The caribou skins shrunk, breaking at least one of the kayak’s wooden ribs and tearing several seams. Moving the kayak into the Elmer Rasmuson Library, at the time the only climate-controlled building on campus, and later into the UA Museum’s current building slowed but did not stop its deterioration. Because there are few remaining Nunamiut elders with the necessary woodworking and skin sewing skills, the timing to restore the kayak is critical. In one of the only tasks in Eskimo culture that is not strictly defined by gender, Eskimo men and women share the responsibility in the construction of a kayak. Last fall, Anaktuvuk Pass hunters took five bull caribou, whose hides will be used for the kayak’s new covering and the babiche. In anticipation of the kayak’s arrival in Anuktuvuk Pass later this month, several elder women are preparing the skins and sinew for the kayak’s new covering. Simon Paneak’s son, Roosevelt Paneak, is directing the project. UA Museum staff will remove kayak from display the week of May 12 and crate it for transport to Anaktuvuk Pass on Friday, May 16. On Saturday, May 17, the two museums and the Nunamiut Corporation will host a community open house to celebrate the restoration of the kayak and give UA Museum staff working on the project a chance to meet village residents. Beginning the morning of Monday, May 19, workers will remove the old caribou skins from the frame, fit the new skins to the frame and seal them with caribou tallow. In addition to the elders working on the project, students from Anaktuvuk Pass School will help document the project to create a permanent record of the process of constructing and covering a traditional Nunamiut kayak.

Lake ice permitting, the kayak will take its maiden voyage in Little Chandler Lake before returning to Fairbanks. Back at the UA Museum, the kayak will be displayed in the Western Arctic Coast gallery until the new wing opens in fall 2005. At that point, the kayak will be relocated to the Rose Berry Alaska Art Gallery, where it will be highlighted as an example of craft as art, along with photographs and video documenting its repair.

The Nunamiut Eskimo are the world’s only inland Eskimo. They were the last group of Eskimo to come in off the land, settling in Anaktuvuk Pass in the 1950’s after generations of semi-nomadic living.

Restoration of the Nunamiut kayak is funded with support from the Evelyn Steffànson Nef Foundation, the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation, Nunamiut Corporation and Dinah Larsen. Everts Air Cargo is donating the freight to transport the kayak to and from Anuktuvuk Pass.

For more information, including lodging and transportation details, contact Kerynn Fisher, Communications Coordinator, University of Alaska Museum, at 474-6941.