Friends of Folk Art present The Parka Imperative with Suzi Jones

Please join us to explore the cultural dimensions of parkas and parka making and their role in cultural survival with Suzi Jones. The title of the parka exhibition now at the Museum of International Folk Art, Ghúunayúkata -- To Keep Them Warm: The Alaska Native Parka, suggests the truly significant role of parkas in Indigenous Alaska life for thousands of years. Parkas, indeed, have kept people warm, dry, and alive. Yet, in our times, when manufactured clothing is readily available from local stores and from thousands of online retailers, one might wonder why many Indigenous people of Alaska and the Far North persist in making traditional parkas from the pelts of locally harvested animals, fashioning them in regional styles, using centuries’ old designs that often require hundreds of hours of sewing by hand.

Caption: Inupiaq reindeer herders from Wales, Alaska, including Kivyearzuk, Keok, Sokweena, Tautuk and Ootenna at a Reindeer Fair, Nome, AK, c. 1900. Four of the herders are wearing spotted reindeer parkas, and the other two are dressed in muskrat parkas. Photo by Lomen Bros. From the "Public Domain Media," Frank G. Carpenter Collection, Library of Congress.

This event is for FOFA members only.  FOFA members will receive an invitation by email which will include all the details and the price. A single membership allows access to one ticket. A dual membership allows for two tickets.

For information on joining FOFA, a membership group of the Museum of New Mexico Foundation, please click here.

For questions, please email friendsoffolkart@gmail.com