Yup'ik Mask with Animal Imagery

Likely 1975 - 2010

Object
7.5 x 9.5 x 2.25 in. (19.05 x 24.13 x 5.715 cm)

This object has the following keywords:

• Arctic - In the context of art and culture, the culture of the indigenous peoples of the northern polar region of the earth, including the Arctic Ocean and the northernmost parts of Asia, Europe, and North America. The term may also refer to the animals, plants, climate, geology, geography, and oceanography of the area.
• masks - Refers to coverings for all or part of the face, usually with openings for the eyes and sometimes the mouth. They are worn to hide or alter the identity of the wearer or for protection. Masks as cultural objects have been used throughout the world in all periods since the Stone Age. Masks are extremely varied in appearance, function, and fundamental meaning. They may be associated with ceremonies that have religious and social significance or are concerned with funerary customs, fertility rites, or curing sickness. They may be used on festive occasions or to portray characters in a dramatic performance and in re-enactments of mythological events. They may be used for warfare and as protective devices in certain sports. They are also employed as architectural ornaments.
• Native American - Typically reserved to refer narrowly to the cultures of the native peoples of the United States and Canada, excluding the Eskimos and Aleuts. For the indigenous peoples of Canada use the term "First Nations." For the broader concept of the cultures of any native peoples of Central America, South America, North America, or the West Indies who are considered to belong to the Mongoloid division of the human species, use "Amerindian (culture)."
• North American - Refers to the cultures of the continent of North America, which is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, the Arctic Circle, and Central America. In classifications schemes based on physical geography, Central America, and North America are parts of the same continent.
• pigment - Any relatively insoluble organic, inorganic, natural or artificial substance that imparts a color to another substance or mixture and always appears as the same specific color when viewed in white light. It is the constituent of paint or ink that provides the color. Distinguished from a dye, which is soluble in the vehicle, a pigment is insoluble in the vehicle, but instead is held in a suspension.
• ritual objects - Objects used for a particular ritual activity, often as part of a ceremony.
• walrus ivory - Material comprising the dentin of walrus tusks.
• wood - The principal tissue of trees and other plants that provides both strength and a means of conducting nutrients. Wood is one of the most versatile materials known.
• Yup'ik - Refers to the culture of the Yup'ik, a Western Eskimo group of Siberian Asia and of Saint Lawrence Island and the Diomede Islands in the Bering Sea and Strait. The Yup'ik are culturally related to the Chukchi.

• Object Dimensions: 7.5 x 9.5 x 2.25 in. (19.05 x 24.13 x 5.715 cm)

This object is a member of the following portfolios: