Arctic Remix: Part 1
Arctic Remix considers how Indigenous technologies have informed, inspired, or anticipated modern-day design and technology innovations.
Indigenous peoples of the Arctic possessed an intimate knowledge of their environment, creating many adaptive tools for surviving and thriving through seasonal change. Many of these inventions reveal an economy of design and ingenious use of natural materials.
Mass production, synthetic materials, and modern day concerns change how we interface with objects as well as with our environment. Objects highlighted in this exhibition point to what has changed, what has been remixed, and what has stayed the same.
Floating on Snow
Snowshoe technology has been refined by Alaska’s Indigenous peoples over thousands of years. Snowshoe frames were typically made from straight birch or strong driftwood and steam bent into the appropriate shape.
Snowshoes by Esan, Gift of Leonard Grau, Anchorage Museum Collection, 1955.9.4abAnchorage Museum
Webbing was made of babiche (semi-tanned hide cut into thin strips of cordage). In Dena’ina Athabascan culture, a child of three or four would be given a set of snowshoes.
The snowshoes were indispensable for travel during the winter months and, by a relatively young age, children learned to master walking in them. They were customized for the individual and children received increasingly larger pairs as they continued to grow.
Each region of Alaska had their own styles of snowshoes based on local geography and climate, but all snowshoes function by distributing a person's weight over a larger area. This allows the wearer to float above the snow and to travel longer distances without becoming fatigued.
Snowshoes by Esan and Ferenc CeglediAnchorage Museum
By the middle of the 20th century, the skills and knowledge needed to craft traditional snowshoes had largely disappeared as mass-produced snowshoes became widely available.
By the late 1970s, new materials, such as aluminum and plastics, were incorporated into snowshoe designs. Composite materials revolutionized the form, dimension, weight, and other physical features of modern snowshoes.
Continued refinements have allowed snowshoes to become smaller, lighter, cheaper and easier for the novice to use. These innovations have led to the rising popularity of snowshoeing as a winter activity and renewed interest in learning from the few traditional makers in Alaska.
Ice Cleats
Like modern metal cleats or grippers, bone or ivory ice cleats (also known as creepers or grippers) were worn on the bottoms of boots for better traction on slippery ice.
Ice Cleats by St. Lawrence Island Yupik artist, Gift of Greg Quevillon, Anchorage Museum Collection, 1979.102.1abAnchorage Museum
Secured to the front end of a boot with a leather strap, bone or ivory cleats were used for a number of different outdoor winter activities requiring firm footing on icy surfaces.
In Northern coastal areas, Alaska Native peoples used cleats while working on slick ramps where boats were launched, especially during the spring when the warm sun begins to melt the ice.
Ice Cleats by St. Lawrence Island Yupik artist and Patrick SchneiderAnchorage Museum
Today, a variety of metal cleats are available through retailers, marketed as gear to keep the wearer safe walking in the winter. Some of the better-known brands include IceTrekkers, Stabil, Yaktrax, Kahtoola, and Korkers.
Heavy-duty and specialty versions of the original ice cleats, with more substantial metal spikes for digging into ice, are known as crampons, which are used in mountaineering and ice climbing.
To learn more and see the full Arctic Remix online exhibition visit: https://www.anchoragemuseum.org/exhibits/arctic-remix/
