Alaska: Summer Reading Program

Alaska native masks appear on art trading cards at local libraries. Left to right: Loon Mask, Edward Kiokun, Yup’ik; Twin Mask, Bert Ryan, Tsimshian; Untitled, Kathleen Carlo, Athabaskan. Courtesy Alaska Contemporary Art Bank

The Alaska State Council on the Arts (ASCA) has partnered with the Alaska State Library System to create a distinct Alaskan component to the library’s annual summer reading program. Summer reading programs are important to help students maintain and improve reading skills over vacation, which is vital to their educational and literacy development. ASCA sponsored a call this spring for artists to design a poster for the summer program that embraced traditional Alaskan art forms or other forms of creative expression. Sitka artist Nicholas Galanin, a Tlingit artist, was chosen for his book mask. The library and ASCA then created native art cards for young people to collect at their local libraries as a treasure hunt. Each of the art cards has an image of an Alaska Native mask that is part of ASCA’s Alaska Contemporary Art Bank. The actual masks will be on display throughout the summer at selected libraries. For more information please contact ASCA Executive Director Charlotte Fox.