| Type | Non-Profit |
|---|---|
| Founded | Anchorage, Alaska, USA (2002) |
| Headquarters | Anchorage, Alaska, USA |
| Key people |
Jonella Larson White, Executive Director |
| Employees | 5 (2011) |
| Website | www.alaskanativearts.org |
Established in 2002, the Alaska Native Arts Foundation is a non-profit organization formed to support the Alaska Native Art community. The organization, headed by Jonella Larson White, engages in many efforts to increase public awareness of the art and to create a vibrant and growing market for their work. The Anchorage gallery, located at 500 West Sixth Avenue in downtown Anchorage, has monthly exhibits of new works of art by contemporary Alaska Native artists in mixed media, paintings, sculpture, wood carvings, fused glass, cast bronze and other forms. In addition, the Foundation maintains extensive inventory of Native art and utilitarian, hand-made items of all sorts, based on the "subsistence" lifestyle of its makers: walrus ivory carvings, baleen etchings, whalebone sculpture, salmon and halibut skin baskets, caribou antler dolls dressed in traditional sealskin clothing; and wearable art and accessories: jewelry, baskets, traditional "ulu" knives, fur parkas, hats, gloves, mittens, traditional "mukluks", summer parkas, bolo ties, "scrimshaw" belt buckles, silver, gold and copper jewelry, and hair ornaments.
The Foundation is also a grant-making organization, awarding small artist support grants.