Inupiaq on the Internet


	Samuel Simmonds once made his living herding reindeer. With the debut of a website called Touch Alaska, he hopes to tap into wider interest for his ivory carvings. (Photograph by Bill Hess)

ntil now, Inupiaq ivory carver Samuel Simmonds, 74, has followed a very simple marketing plan: His wife, Hestor, walks around their village of Barrow, Alaska, with his walrus-tusk sculptures until someone offers to buy one. Samuel expects this to change soon. His art will be featured on Touch Alaska, a website designed to provide an international marketplace for the traditional arts of this northernmost tip of Alaska.

"The elders who are artists and carvers can't afford to compete with someone in Juneau selling crafts to tourists coming off cruise ships," says Touch Alaska cofounder Natalie Ringland. "We want to put them on the Internet." Spread out as they are -- about 6,000 people in an area the size of Utah -- the Inupiaq are becoming increasingly sophisticated about communications. Not everyone has a flush toilet, but most people know about the Internet and are curious about what it can do for them.

The site will offer information on how to get to places like Barrow, what to do and see when you get there, and what you can buy from Alaska without leaving home. With her partner, Susan McCumber, Natalie spent several days this year documenting a huge annual festival -- Kivgiq, the Messenger Feast. Anyone clicking into Touch Alaska can get a closer look at the ancient tradition, which brings together dance groups and people from remote villages to drum and sing past midnight for three days.


	Samuel Simmonds' carved figures portray scenes from his youth. (Photograph by Bill Hess)


	Hundreds of indigenous dancers gather from Canada, Alaska, and Russia to celebrate Kivgiq (the Messenger Feast) in Barrow, Alaska. A closer look is available on the Touch Alaska website. (Photograph by Bill Hess)

The Touch Alaska site is offering a video produced by Natalie and Susan called Barrow, Alaska: A True Story, which explores life and whaling culture in the land of permafrost. Samuel Simmonds, who is profiled in the video, has high hopes that this and other exposure will expand his market from the streets of Barrow to carved-ivory collectors around the world.

http://www.touch-alaska.com/text/t_index.htm