The Alutiiq Museum in Kodiak added a new jacket made from brown bear guts, or a kanaglluk, to its collections.
According to a press release on Tuesday, the hooded, waist-length jacket made by Sugpiaq Artist June Pardue is planned to be part of a large display on traditional kayaks and clothing when the museum reopens in May.
“For many years, we only had photos of an adult kanaglluk,” said the museum’s executive director, April Counceller, in the release. “Now we have June’s Jacket to share.”
The semi-transparent gut parka would be used to keep kayakers dry while out in Kodiak’s waters.
According to the museum, another Alutiiq artist, Rolf Christiansen, harvested the Kodiak brown bear near Old Harbor on the southeast side of the island, then donated the guts. Pardue, a professor of Native arts at the University of Alaska Anchorage, had volunteers at her home in Wasilla scrape the bear intestines clean before sewing it together.
The museum commissioned Pardue to make the jacket with a $7,400 grant from the Alaska Art Fund. Grants from the Alaska Office of History and Archaeology and the National Park Service fund the display.
The museum is set to reopen on May 22.
