Alaska Eskimo Footwear celebrates the incredible beauty and spiritual significance of the shoes and boots worn by Alaska Natives peoples. Stunning photography brings the harsh and striking environment of the North alive and demonstrates how essential footwear was to Natove survival. Eskimo seamstresses, dances, and hunters explain the symbolic meaning of their traditional patterns and decorative details.
For each major Alaska Eskimo group - Inupiaq, Yup'ik, Aleut, Alutiiq, St Lawrence Ilsanders - authors Oakes and Riewe discuss skin preparation, boot construction, and decoration. They describe the reasons for designs and decorative differences in footwear used for ceremonies and dancing versus those worn for hunting trapping, and fishing.
Developed with Eskimo seamstresses from each Alaska region, this full-colour volume features photographs from museum collections in Canada, the United Sates, and Russia. Detailed drawings of patterns, constructio techniques, and decorative details illustrate the complexity if Eskimo footwear and provide guidance in identifying regional styles. A tribute to an exquisite art and the women wo practice it, Alaska Eskimo Footwear brings the beauty of North to life.