PRISCILLA SAGE

“I am the captain of the skin sewers for the Inupiaq boats. I oversee everything. I have been on it since 1971. We use bearded seal skin. We use the same skin for the blanket toss blanket. It takes us 16 hours in one day to make one boat. We don’t quit until we are done. I learned from my mom and my aunt, when I was young-the ripe old age of 21. Now I am 72. They call me head seamstress. — Priscilla Sage is Inupiaq and lives in Utqiagvik, Alaska.