My Favorite Style of Doll

The Ethnology Department houses a collection of dolls that originated among the Alaska Native Cultures. These dolls have been gifted or traded to the museum over the last several decades, and includes dolls recently received in 2010. I was fortunate to be involved with a recent donation of Alaskan Arctic dolls by Dr. Jonathan and Mrs. Ellyn A. Ostrow, which included one of my favorites - a doll with a very expressive leather face.

Untitled, this doll (2010-166/25) was made by Rose Ann Kanrilak of Chevak, probably between 1970 and 1995. This doll has a seal skin face with appliqué nose and eyes and teeth of small beads and I noticed that it is similar to some of the other dolls from Alaska. Arctic dolls can be separated into nine distinct regional doll types according to author Suzi Jones. Included as one of the nine types is the leather-faced doll that is found all over Alaska, but it turns out there is a localized type of leather-faced doll with expressive, whimsical, sometimes funny, features. These dolls come from the community of Chevak.

Inspired by the success of Chevak doll maker Rosalie Paniyak, there are many artists in this village making dolls with sealskin faces, dressed in traditional clothing and engaged in humorous or traditional activities. The Burke Museum has four other dolls from Chevak in its collections by doll makers Rosalie Paniyak (2010-166/20), Ursula Paniyak (1999-37/2 and 2010-166/14) and Annie Hurlbut (2008-85/1). As a group, these dolls are delightful to look, whether carrying a child, nursing a pregnant woman, gathering eggs or just gazing back at the viewer, and they always seem to evoke a smile.

Posted By: Rebecca Andrews, Ethnology

Lee, Molly, ed. 'Not Just a Pretty Face'. 2nd edition. University of Alaska Press. 2006.
Jones, Suzi, ed. 'Eskimo Dolls'. Alaska State Council on the Arts. 1982.

What the heck is a shoe pot?

The Burke’s Ethnology division cares for amazing collections that often demonstrate the innovations and ingenuity of human cultures. Rebecca Andrews, Ethnology Collections Manager, highlights the process of researching these interesting pieces once they’ve been donated to the museum by taking us on one of her endeavors:

What the heck is a shoe pot?

Recently the Ethnology division received a very large donation of nearly 600 pieces of utilitarian Mexican pottery. The collection includes pots (ollas), water jugs (cantaros and tinajas), pitchers (jarras), grinding bowls (mocajetes), stew pots (cazuelas), cups (jarros) and bowls (cajetes). As part of the cataloguing process, I’ve been sorting, researching, and describing the pots, and was amazed to come across a very different kind of pot.

Shoe-shaped pots, or patojos as they are known in Mexico, are ceramic vessels in the shape of, well, a shoe. This is the catch-all name for the pots which are also called bird-, duck-, boot-, slipper-, moccasin- or foot-shaped. These are asymmetrical vessels with the opening at one end, and usually a handle extending from the rim of the opening. In Spanish, these vessels are called patojos, patos, zapittlos, botas and zuecos, but commonly known as patojos. These are culinary vessels, used for cooking. The pointed end is shoved between hearth stones over the hot coals, and the contents can be stirred or ladled out easily from the open end. Patojos are known ethnographically only in two areas of Mexico: Oaxaca, Puebla (and also in the country of Chile), however pre-historically the pots were used by several indigenous peoples over a much wider area of Mexico.

This shoe-shaped pot was donated to the Burke Museum by Frederick Hart. It was made in Mixistlan, Oaxaca, Mexico, and was collected in 1971. Catalog #2009-117/536.


For more information, see Dixon, Keith A. 1976. 'Shoe Pots, Patojos, and the Principle of Whimsy' Vol. 41, No. 3:386-391. Society for American Archaeology.

Posted by: Rebecca Andrews, Ethnology

Collection Spotlight: A Yup'ik Mourning Dancer

Object #: 1999-144/1

In this Collection Spotlight, we write less and hopefully you write more…

As I was happily clicking through the Ethnology Collections database, I came across this image of a doll titled Mourning Dancer by Yup’ik artist Suzanne Wardlow.

Here are some of my musings about this piece: I find this image entirely arresting. It makes me wonder about the sound the dancer would make as he moved. Having recently attended the Seattle Art Museum’s exuberant Nick Cave exhibit, I am interested in the contrast between the celebratory movement of Cave’s pieces and the mourning dance of Wardlow’s doll.

Now, what about you?   When you first encounter an artifact in a museum, like this Mourning Doll, what musings do you have? Do you want to know how something moved, felt, tasted? When have you had to resist the urge to jump into an exhibit?

At this point, I have yet to master the art of mind reading (not for lack of trying, mind you)…so please WRITE me your musings and pondering in the comments…I'm curious to know what you think!

Posted by: Emily Sparling