Daily Sitka Sentinel

April 30, 2020, Community Happenings

Sitkan’s Indigenous Art to Be

In Museum’s Digital Exhibit

A digital exhibition of the latest works by multi-disciplinary artist Nicholas Galanin (Tlingit/Unangax̂) of Sitka  debuts Friday online at the Anchorage Museum.

The show is titled “Created to Hold Power (Intellectual Property).”

‘‘‘Created to Hold Power (Intellectual Property)’ humanizes our collective connection to how indigenous intellectual property is used and honors the cultural continuum of this knowledge, creativity and innovation,’’ the museum said. ‘‘The multiple components of the exhibition, which include photography, audio, video, sculpture and painting, verify how society allows the ongoing colonial consumption of Indigenous land, bodies, languages and cultural objects without full engagement with them.’’

Galanin will talk about the exhibition in a Facebook live event via the Anchorage Museum’s Facebook page at 6 p.m. Friday.

The show contains three components:

–Fair Warning, a Sacred Place, a photo and audio series that Galanin says document “empty museum cabinets created to hold Indigenous power for captive display. These non-Indigenous institutions do not belong to this power, and this power does not belong to them”;

–(Intellectual Property), a photo series titled by Galanin to “humanize our connection to the uses of our intellectual property and honor the cultural continuum of this knowledge, creativity and innovation”; and

–Architecture of Return, a map painted on deer hide that plots an escape route for Indigenous objects held in the collection of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Galanin apprenticed with master carvers and jewelry makers, earned his bachelor of fine arts degree from London Guildhall University and master of fine arts degree from Massey University (New Zealand).

For information onhow to view the exhibit, go to anchoragemuseum.org.

Music Festival

Videos Online

A new virtual collection of music videos featuring Sitka Summer Music Festival Artistic Director Zuill Bailey and recent Festival guest artists is now available.

Access to SSMF’s free “special online content” page can be found at sitkamusicfestival.org.

Virtual performances are added several times per week. More information is available by calling the Festival office at 747-6774. 

Blatchley Students

Get Pickup Notice

Dates and times for locker items pickup at Blatchley Middle School has been announced.

Staff members have emptied both main and gym locker contents, placed them in bags and labeled them with student names. 

At the scheduled times, students and parents can pull up to the front curb outside of Blatchley, and the appropriate bag will be handed out.

Pickup times are: sixth-graders, 8 a.m.-2 p.m. Tuesday, May 5; seventh-graders, 8 a.m.-2 p.m. Wednesday, May 6; and eighth-graders, 8 a.m.-2 p.m. Thursday, May 7.

Precipitation

Monitoring On

View in Sitka

The Sitka Sound Science Center is working on a citizen science effort to monitor precipitation throughout Sitka. Five of the planned 10 stations are currently in use.

The rain gauges will be used to help with landslide prediction, and will also help calibrate the weather radar on Biorka Island, bringing more accurate forecasts, the science center said.

 The data is open to public view at www.bit.ly/sitkaData, zone AK023. Viewers can see data from the past 24 hours for all public weather monitors in Sitka.

Archived data can be downloaded by clicking on the station of interest, and clicking “Download Data” on the left-hand side.

Contact Cora Siebert, geoscience coordinator, at csiebert@sitkascience.org with any questions.

‘Stress Breaks’

Offered Online

All can join Doug Osborne on Zoom for a daily dose of relaxation.

The SEARHC health educator leads stress breaks 3-3:15 Monday through Saturdays through the pandemic.

The stress management session is free and designed to give participants a breather.  Each day features a different idea and technique. For  information on how to sign up, email douglaso@searhc.org or call 738-8734.

UAS-Sitka Plans

Commencement

Online Friday

University of Alaska Southeast will celebrate student achievement and success of its 460 graduates this weekend at commencement activities on its three campuses in Sitka, Ketchikan and Juneau.

Although traditional ceremonies are not taking place in person due to the COVID-19 pandemic, each campus has created a “virtual commencement” in which students can be celebrated.

On May 1, the UAS-Sitka Campus plans to post a virtual commencement video presentation to be shown on its social media pages and campus webpage. The video will open with remarks from Campus Director Math Trafton. The commencement address will then be given by Rachel Roy, the executive director of the Greater Sitka Chamber of Commerce. UAS Sitka adjunct science faculty Lauren Wild will deliver the faculty reflection, and UAS Sitka Health Information Management graduate Victoria Wallace will deliver the student reflection. Other notable speakers will be Chancellor Caulfield, President Johnsen and Regent Buretta.

Sitka campus Student Success Center manager David Felts will read the names of graduates, and Alaska Languages adjunct faculty Roby Littlefield will read heritage names. A slideshow presentation will present photos of graduates along with a list of those whom they would like to thank for helping them achieve their educational goals.

The video presentation also will recognize graduating students of distinction in the fields of fisheries technology, health information management, medical assisting and general associate of arts. Students are chosen by their grade point average, their volunteerism, and willingness to go above and beyond, the school said. 

This year’s Students of Distinction are:

Fisheries Technology Graduate Student of Distinction, Wesley Shipley; Health Information Graduate Student of Distinction, Mykela Carroll; and Associates of Arts Graduate Student of Distinction, Abigayle Erickson.