Angela Gonzalez is an artist and a writer, and through her beadwork, her blog — the Athabascan Woman Blog — and the Fish Camp Barbie dioramas she creates, she shares her heritage. She says that it’s all a reflection of the way she grew up. Fish camp was a big part of that. As a kid, that’s where she spent most of her summers, about 16 miles from her home in Huslia, along the Koyukuk River. While the adults were harvesting the fish, her grandma would put Angela’s Barbies in settings that resembled what was happening all around them — catching the fish, hanging the fish, preserving it, cooking it. And then once she was old enough, she helped out with those chores. Angela says that she didn’t realize how special fish camp was until she started creating Fish Camp Barbie dioramas for her own daughters. It was a way to share her life with them and to teach them how to be proud of who they are.
From her time at Fish Camp, Angela also learned the importance of work — that if you want to succeed, then you need to work. Today, this manifests itself in her beading. It’s easy for her to sit down for a few hours and focus on a project. She’s beaded earrings, pins, the tops of gloves, slippers, coasters. A recent project she finished included caribou tufting, raised beadwork and silverberry beads that she harvested herself. She says she’s inspired by the beadwork of her late grandmas and aunts. Their color choices, designs, and techniques. She likes to think about the stories and the experiences that led them to create their art.
EP 150 Furniture, basketball and family with Buddy Bailey
EP 149 Human trafficking in Alaska and decolonizing data with Josie Heyano
Chatter Marks EP 83 Moving home, revitalizing a language and the magic of radio with Shyanne Beatty
Chatter Marks EP 82 A chip on my shoulder with Mario Chalmers
EP 148 Skating Anchorage in the ‘90s with Anthony Black and Jerry Smyth
EP 147 For the glory and the story with IG
EP 146 Searching for understanding and forgiveness with Robert Stark
EP 145 There is no excuse with Andrew Kurka
EP 144 Deconstructing the myth of The Last Frontier with Kaitlin Armstrong
EP 143 A Christmas they’ll never forget
EP 142 The history of slime with Christopher Michlig
EP 141 What we’ve been through is not who we are now with Travante Williams
EP 140 From middle school teacher to pro wrestler with Freya the Slaya
EP 139 Embracing the variance of poker with Adam Hendrix
Museums in a Climate of Change: Chatter Marks EP 73 Futures thinking, perseverance and climate change with Kristin Alford of the Museum of Discovery at the University of South Australia
EP 138 What happens to Alaska when oil is no longer economically viable for the economy of the state?
Museums in a Climate of Change: Chatter Marks EP 72 Creating sustainable exhibitions with Lizzy Bakker of NEMO Science Museum in Amsterdam
EP 137 Carrying on a storied history with Matt Fernandez of Anchorage Community Theatre
Museums in a Climate of Change: Chatter Marks EP 71 How climate change is affecting the traditional Sámi way of life with Anne May Olii of the Sámi Museum in Norway
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Voices of Misery Podcast
House of Whimsical Terror
Just Dumb Enough Podcast
Stuff You Should Know
Timcast IRL