Alaska's Native Heritage Center offers eye opening look at colorful indigenous life

The settting for Alaska's Native Heritage Center is serene and beautiful, showing how
indigenous people lived, worked, played games, hunted, fished and survived in harsh climates.   

ALASKA HERITAGE CENTER CONNECTS VISITORS WITH INDIGENOUS PEOPLE

STORY By CHRISTENE MEYERS

PHOTOS By BRUCE KELLER

WE HAVE visited Alaska many times, but never have we felt so awed and fascinated by the culture as we were this most recent trip.

That's because we spent an eye-opening day at the fabulous Alaska Native Heritage Center near Anchorage.

Games continue to be part of native culture, as demonstrated each day in
a welcoming auditorium, where lectures and dances are also held.

WHAT A SPLENDID place. It gave us a unique, memorable and moving look at Alaskan native life in a format we'd never experienced.

Its focus is largely devoted to explaining the rich culture of indigenous people. We entered a large hall and gallery space to be directed to a large, open auditorium.

Intricate beadwork adorns these
moccasins, as dancers perform.
There we watched young people prepare to dance and play games. It was a live performance -- fascinating and beautifully executed.

We spent a lovely day, listening to stories, meeting carvers, and asking\artists questions about their crafts. The setting is so small and intimate that visitors sometimes feel the urge to join in the dancing or learn a game. A couple sitting near us took to the stage to dance.

This young man described how his ancestors
survived in winter, demonstrating skis and
hunting equipment. Furs were tanned and
used for clothing and shelter. 

AS MUSEUM and culture buffs, we have been to many facilities, admiring painting, pottery, crafts and handiwork. We were in for a treat here, with an array of buildings holding meticulous work: intricate moose hide boots, beautifully woven birch bark baskets, seal hide tunics, detailed jewelry.

Christene "Cookie" Meyers and Bruce
Keller are framed by whale bones
during a hike around the large facility.

WE STROLLED a half-mile loop to enter and admire life-sized traditional native dwellings to see the richness and diversity of Alaska's native cultures. One of the most interesting buildings was a southeast Alaska longhouse—large wooden constructions with no windows and only a smoke hole at the top. Our guide said they generally housed several families. Inside, we admired four beautifully carved posts that each represent a different culture. Each post is carved and painted with themes showing respect for the individual, family, the land and sea. All of these are revered by the culture.

Flowers surround many of the buildings one enters on a
hike around the grounds, and the outdoor cafe area
is an eye-popping extravaganza of blooms.

Much of Alaskan life of long ago revolved around the seasons and nature. We discovered this theme is still part of Alaskan life. Plants and trees are respected and it was wonderful to see that love carried over and expressed in the visual arts as well as in the casual lectures at each structure. The pride and precision we encountered in the docents' commentaries on our hike was equal to the honorable way the gamesmen and dancers performed. All very moving experience for us.

The Anchorage Trolley is a wonderful way to see the city.
Our Hilton Anchorage hotel was just a block away and
offered a free shuttle to the Alaska Native  Heritage Center.

THE CENTER is launching a $25 million fund-raising campaign to expand its facilities and reach.  We bought lovely souvenirs created by Alaska Native Artists at Ch'k'iqadi Gallery and had a tasty bite for lunch -- delicious sandwiches and pastry -- at D’eshchin Café.

More information: alaska.org/detail/alaska-native-heritage-center

anchoragetrolley.com/

Vancouver Art Gallery is one of Canada's finest museums,
housing an impressive collection of regional artists' work.
It is one of the city's many artfully repurposed buildings.

UP NEXT: We leave Anchorage with its wonderful trolley, its wilderness setting, its fabulous heritage center and more, and head south to Vancouver for a two-part series on this exciting city.  First, we visit Vancouver Art Gallery, known for its works by regional artists and its hands on involvement of visitors.  The city's Museum of Anthropology houses preeminent First Nations collections. And Big Bus Vancouver takes visitors around the city, and through its neighborhoods and beautiful Stanley Park, larger than Central Park of New York.  Remember to explore, learn and live and catch us weekly for a fresh spin on travel, the arts.