Tag Archives: April Laktonen Counceller

The Alutiiq Museum is hosting an event called Culture Fest this weekend, as a way to get the community involved in the museum’s annual meeting. “We need to do our annual meeting and we wanted to find a way to make it more relevant for the community besides just having a public board meeting,” said Djuna Davidson, Education and Outreach …

Daysha Eaton/ KMXT Kodiak is getting a new park dedicated to the ancestors of Alutiiq people whose remains were removed from the Kodiak Archipelago and are finally being returned. April Laktonen Counceller is Executive Director of the Alutiiq Museum and Archeological Repository in Kodiak. She says a ceremonial groundbreaking for the Alutiiq Ancestors’ Memorial Park will take place today at …

The Alutiiq Museum’s April Laktonen Counceller does the sign for boiling water. (Photo by Kayla Desroches / KMXT) Kayla Desroches/KMXT Language in the Kodiak Archipelago may have included a visual element at different points in history. That includes sign language and symbols – or pictographs – both of which can be traced back to two men in the 19th century, …

Cover of “Kaugya’angcum Qawangurtuwa” or “Small Fox’s Dream.” (Courtesy of the Alutiiq Museum) Kayla Desroches/KMXT The Alutiiq Museum in partnership with the Native Village of Afognak just released the last of 12 Alutiiq language books for young people. The project draws on local writers and artists to work together on print and e-books. Most recently, Alutiiq Museum executive director April …

Wormwood foliage. (A&M AgriLife Photo by Kathleen Phillips / Flickr) Kayla Desroches/KMXT The Alutiiq Museum just released a book about the traditional uses of Kodiak plants. Homer based ethnobotanist Priscilla Russell worked with museum staff to transform her research into the 181-page resource. According to a museum press release, Russell visited Kodiak villages in the 1990s and documented local knowledge …

Draft design plan. Courtesy of Alutiiq Museum Kayla Desroches/KMXT The Alutiiq Museum is moving forward on a memorial park to honor Alutiiq ancestors and culture. The museum’s governing council had been waiting for Kodiak City Council’s okay before continuing onto the next steps, like community fundraising. The park would be downtown on city land. Last month, the council consented to …

Draft design plan. Courtesy of Alutiiq Museum Kayla Desroches/KMXT The organizers behind a proposed Alutiiq Ancestors’ Memorial are seeking the Kodiak City Council’s support. The group requested a site that belongs to the city, and will present to the council at its work session tonight. The memorial idea comes from the recent return of ancestral remains that archeologists took from …

Kayla Desroches/KMXT This week is the 20th anniversary of a program that helped build Alutiiq language awareness on Kodiak Island. The Alutiiq Museum airs the Alutiiq Word of the Week on KMXT Public Radio in short segments, prints it in the Kodiak Daily Mirror, and posts the podcast to its website. It also archives Alutiiq words, their pronunciations, and their …

Opening night of the Pililuki exhibit. On the left hand side are the two different types of hats and the booth to create them. Kayla Desroches/KMXT Kayla Desroches/KMXT The Alutiiq museum’s new exhibit opened Friday and is called Pililuki, which means “make them” in the Alutiiq language. Activities in the room invite people to interact with Alutiiq culture and history, …

Father Innocent Dresdow performs service on the remains in the room where they’re being kept, in a lower level of the Alutiiq Museum. Photo by April Laktonen Counceller / Alutiiq Museum Kayla Desroches/KMXT After years of work, ancestral remains from a 19th century settlement on Chirikof Island have returned home. In the 1960s, archaeologists removed the bones from Chirikof, which …