FIFTH OPENING – The Sitka seine boats Hukilau and Rose Lee pump herring aboard this afternoon at the end of Deep Inlet during the fifth opening in the Sitka Sound sac roe herring fishery. The opening was being held in two locations beginning at 11 a.m. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson) 

New RFP Sought For Managing PAC
27 Mar 2024 14:48

By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
    The future of management and operations at the Perform [ ... ]

Seiners Get Second Day with 2 Areas to Fish
27 Mar 2024 14:46

By Sentinel Staff
    The Sitka Sound commercial herring sac roe fishery continued today with open [ ... ]

Braves Take Second in Last Minute Upset
27 Mar 2024 12:41

By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor
    After storming into the state 3A boys basketball brac [ ... ]

Tuesday City League Volleyball
27 Mar 2024 12:39

By Sentinel Staff
    The Queen Bees’ spotless season record ended Tuesday night with a 2-1 loss [ ... ]

Kodiak Alutiiq Museum Getting New Attention
27 Mar 2024 12:37

By SHIRLEY SNEVE
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    A major renovation at an Alaska museum to attract tourist [ ... ]

House Hearing on Inmate Deaths Halted
27 Mar 2024 12:35

By CLAIRE STREMPLE
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    A presentation about a jump in the number of inmate deaths in  [ ... ]

Nominee to Bering Sea Council: Not a Trawler
27 Mar 2024 12:34

By NATHANIEL HERZ
Northern Journal
    Tribal and environmental advocates calling for a crackdown o [ ... ]

March 27, 2024, Police Blotter
27 Mar 2024 12:26

Police Blotter
Sitka police received the following calls by 8 a.m. today:
March 26
At 2:10 p.m. a man e [ ... ]

March 27, 2024, Community Happenings
27 Mar 2024 12:25

Big Rigs Sought
For April 13
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Reassessments Raise Tax Bills for Sitkans
26 Mar 2024 15:22

By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
    The city’s reassessment of taxable real estate, alo [ ... ]

Two Areas Opened in Herring Fishery Today
26 Mar 2024 15:21

By Sentinel Staff
The third opening in this year’s Sitka Sound sac roe herring fishery was held Mon [ ... ]

Lady Wolves Rally to Take Fourth at State
26 Mar 2024 15:16

By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor
    Sitka High’s Lady Wolves bounced back from an openi [ ... ]

Edgecumbe Girls Close Out Season Up North
26 Mar 2024 14:58

By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel ports Editor
    Competing in the state 3A basketball tournament in Anc [ ... ]

City League Monday
26 Mar 2024 14:55

By Sentinel Staff
    Playing in a competitive division City League volleyball game Monday evening [ ... ]

House Votes to Broaden Rules For Review Panel Memb...
26 Mar 2024 14:52

By JAMES BROOKS
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    A bill that passed the Alaska House of Representatives on Monday  [ ... ]

Alaskan Grilled in D.C. Over Climate Science
26 Mar 2024 14:51

By NATHANIEL HERZ
Northern Journal
    Gus Schumacher, the Anchorage Olympic cross-country skier, a [ ... ]

Faster Internet Speeds In Rural Schools OK'd
26 Mar 2024 13:53

By CLAIRE STREMPLE
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    Alaska’s rural schools are on track to access faster interne [ ... ]

Native Words Gathered In Environment Studies
26 Mar 2024 13:52

By YERETH ROSEN
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    In the language of the Gwich’in people of northeastern Alaska,  [ ... ]

March 26, 2024, Police Blotter
26 Mar 2024 13:49

Police Blotter
Sitka police received the following calls by 8 a.m. today:
March 25
At 7:48 a.m. a calle [ ... ]

March 26, 2024, Community Happenings
26 Mar 2024 13:48

Vietnam-Era Vets
Invited to Lunch,
Commemoration
American Legion Post 13 will host a luncheon 1-3 p.m.  [ ... ]

Sac Roe Herring Fishery Opens in Hayward
25 Mar 2024 15:30

By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
    The 2024 Sitka Sound sac roe herring fishery got under [ ... ]

Projects on the Table For Cruise Tax Funds
25 Mar 2024 15:28

By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
    The Assembly will start the annual process of determi [ ... ]

Braves Take Second at State after Close Loss
25 Mar 2024 15:23

By Sentinel Staff
    Competing in the 3A state championship title basketball game Saturday, the M [ ... ]

City League Games Continue
25 Mar 2024 15:11

By Sentinel Staff
    Playing through the afternoon Sunday, City League volleyball teams faced off [ ... ]

Other Articles

Daily Sitka Sentinel

Skultka Honored as Native Art, Culture Teacher

By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
    Charlie Skultka Jr., one of eight individuals and organizations chosen for the Governor’s Arts and Humanities Awards, doesn’t particularly consider his creations – in a variety of forms – as “art.”
    “I feel like, if I’m up a creek, I may need a paddle so I might make one; if I want to play music, I might make a drum; if I’m cold, I might need a blanket, so I’ll make that,” Skultka said.

Charlie Skultka holds up a wolf panel created on the high school’s computer-controlled router, today. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)


    But School District Superintendent Mary Wegner found Skultka’s contributions to local schools so significant she nominated him for the Margaret Nick Cooke Award for Alaska Native Arts and Languages. He will be recognized by Gov. Walker at the arts and humanities awards ceremony in Anchorage in early February.
    “We appreciate his work partnering with teachers and working with students,” Wegner said. “He’s made a significant effort to infuse Alaska Native arts and culture into our activities. He’s a great addition.”
    School District cultural director Nancy Douglas, who also worked on the nomination, agreed.
    “He’s more than deserving,” Douglas said. “Without Charlie, we wouldn’t be as advanced as we are with Northwest Coast art in our district.”
    Skultka, 53, has been an artist most of his life. He has worked as a demonstration artist for the Southeast Alaska Indian Cultural Center at Sitka National Historical Park, and is currently the traditional arts specialist for the Sitka Native Education Program, co-sponsored by the Sitka Tribe of Alaska and the Sitka School District.
    The statement announcing the Margaret Nick Cook Award says Skultka has demonstrated his artistic skills and “helped celebrate, honor and preserve Alaska Native culture.”
    “Charlie is known and respected for this work and his passion for Alaska Native art, which sees him partnering with teachers to incorporate Native Arts into learning activities for all students. Charlie has guided first-graders in creating their own personal drums for use in learning how to count, know the syllables in words, and to learn and perform Native songs and dances.”
    Over the years Skultka has worked in ivory, argulite, wood, ceramics, plastic, cedar, spruce root, leather, glass, bone, sandcasting, bronze, brass, aluminum, stainless steel, titanium, gold, silver, oil, acrylic and airbrush – and probably a few others that don’t come to mind immediately, he said.
    As a teen Skultka learned carving from Reggie Peterson, and later passed on skills to kids in a master apprentice program at the Sitka National Historical Park.
    He said the effort to get Native arts and culture into the schools has been a collaboration between the school district and the Sitka Tribe of Alaska. In the current climate of tightening budgets, cooperation is needed between the two entities to keep the programs going in the schools, he said.
    “Our children really need these hands-on types of things,” Skultka said. “It helps them be better in our society.”
    Skultka, who used to work building boats for Allen Marine, said the skills he teaches in arts and culture lessons translate well into the workplace, since many pupils are learning handy vocational skills in his classes, which might be sewing, carving or operating the computer-operated 3-D printer and computer-operated router in the Sitka High vocational education wing. Skultka has spent time working with all ages, in every school in the district.
    He said he was surprised and pleased with the award, and thanked those who have supported him over the years, including organizations, mentors and his family.
    “I had no idea anybody was paying attention to what I was doing,” he said. “I’ve been threatening to retire for the past two or three years. But every time I was thinking about it, something like this happens, or a student will come up to me and remind me why I do this.”
    He said he also enjoys being a positive role model for students.
    The Governor’s Arts and Humanities Awards program is a partnership among the Alaska Humanities Forum, the Alaska State Council on the Arts, the Alaska Arts and Culture Foundation and the Office of the Governor to “recognize and honor noteworthy contributions to the arts and humanities in Alaska.”
   

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20 YEARS AGO

March 2004

Matthew C. Hunter of Sitka recently returned from Cuba as part of a St. Olaf College International and Off-Campus Studies program. Hunter, a junior physics major at St. Olaf College, is the son of Robert and Kim Hunter of Sitka.


50 YEARS AGO

March 1974

Eighth graders have returned from a visit to Juneau to see the Legislature. They had worked for it since Christmas vacation ... Clarice Johnson’s idea of a “White Elephant” sales was chosen as the best money-maker; Joe Roth won the political cartoon assignment; highest government test scorers were Ken Armstrong, Joanna Hearn, Linda Montgomery, Lisa Henry, Calvin Taylor and David Licari .....

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