Whale Art

This is a piece of artwork outside one of the Alaska Native Corporations in Anchorage. The two upright pieces are whale bones, probably from a bowhead whale. There is a very similar structure in Barrow that I have stood under that are bones from a bowhead whale jaw. That is what the baleen hangs from.

No home in Alaska would be complete without various whale and native artifacts. We have a piece of baleen hanging over the entry to the dining room. Baleen is the fringe that hangs down from the whales jawbone and captures all the tiny pieces of plankton that they eat. Here's a close up.
This is my prize possession. It is a native face mask made in Kivilina and was given to me as a gift. The face is made from a piece of whale bone and the fur is wolf. The eyes are little pieces of baleen. I used to work at an animal clinic and one time we had a dog that needed to get shipped to the village of Kivilina - something happened with the flights and I ended up taking the dog home to stay at my house so it could catch an early morning flight the following day. The owner was so thankful that she sent me this mask.