From: "Gene Smith" <SmithFrow@worldnet.att.net>
To: <baidarka@lists.intelenet.net>
Subject: Re: baidarka eskimo art sources
Date: Tue, 20 Oct 1998 22:30:33 -0000
>My question: can anybody point out any valuable source on the net for
>pics and drawings from the far north?? any books suggested ??
>Stefano
Stefano,
Thank you so much for the Latin translation and spelling correction. I have
some thoughts on Inuit art for you. The first book I stumbled across on the
topic is titled "Alaska Native Arts and Crafts", Volume 12, Number 3, 1985
of Alaska Geographic. Absolutely chock full of wonderful pictures,
information and artifacts. Herein you will find (pp 68-69) "Gut parkas,
made from marine mammal intestine and windpipe...With properly sewn seams,
these garments, which are still occasionally used, are completely
waterproof." Get ahold of a copy to see this picture if nothing else. Do
Italian libraries have anything like our interlibrary loan? From a
quotation in this book I discovered "Eskimo Realities" by Edmund Carpenter.
These two will give you a wonderful taste of the riches of these peoples.
Now, let me make a strange suggestion: "Pathfinder". It is the only feature
film ever made in the Lapp language, and likely to remain the only one.
What does it have to do with Inuit art? As a modern human, I found my
cultural background an almost insurmountable obstacle to grasping what a
culture possessed, if you will, of few possessions could be like.
Pathfinder will show you a tribal culture that possesses little more than
each other and really a lot of snow to hang about in. Yet at last I could
begin to get a glimmer of the richness possible in a culture not based on
material wealth (at least in the terms that we moderns understand it). I
know it sounds off the wall, but if you can get ahold of a video of this
film, have a look. I would be very interested in hearing your reaction.
Anybody else seen Pathfinder? I would love to hear your thoughts also.
This list has a strong philosophical vein that I little suspected. What a
discovery it has been! Makes me feel like an explorer who's found a
fabulous lost city, completely unexpectedly.
Gene Smith
at home in Houston