Arlene Annogiyuk Waghiyi

Arlene Annogiyuk Waghiyi is a Yupik artist from Savoonga, Alaska, a village on St. Lawrence Island located west of the mainland Alaska in the Bering Sea. She and her husband, John Waghiyi, live a subsistence lifestyle, harvesting animals around St. Lawrence Island for nourishment and, as nothing goes to waste, using some animal parts for creating art.

Arlene is one of only a few people who make traditional baskets from walrus stomach. The process of preparing the stomach is time consuming and extremely delicate. After the stomach is removed, the edible lining is slowly and gently scraped, carefully as not to tear the stomach. Then, the stomach is soaked in water for at least three to four weeks. During that time, the water must be changed at least three times a day and kept cold.

Once the stomach is done soaking and bleached, the Waghiyis cap the holes at the ends and blow it up with air to dry outside. It’s important that no holes are made during the scraping process or they would have to be patched. The stomachs are traditionally dried outdoors, giving the material a white bleached appearance.

Arlene’s walrus stomach baskets are based in tradition replicating those once used to harvest and store greens, berries, roots and edible plants. She likes to adorn the pieces with polar bear hair, bleached seal skin and traditionally dyed seal skin.