Shelley Chamberlain

Shelee Chamberlain is a Yup'ik Eskimo from the village of Bethel, Alaska. Shelee comes from a very talented family; her uncles are famous Yup’ik mask carvers and many of the women are well-known doll makers. Shelee is following her mother, Margaret “Penni” Abraham, and has learned the skills to create dolls and other crafts from natural materials found in the Bethel region.

Shelee designs her dolls and dresses them in summer attire - the cotton Qaspeq (Yup'ik spelling, pronounced kus-puk), a garment worn by both men a women that Alaska Natives began making in the mid to late 1800s with the introduction of flour and sacks. Her dolls show action in different forms: a dancer, bow-maker, drummer or in other poses that depict their way of life. Shelley uses cottonwood to create the face of her dolls.