Unangax Chief's Hat by Scott Jensen
The featured object this time is the bentwood Unangax chief's hat. They are often referred to as Aleut, but Unangax is the name the Aleut people call themselves (pronounced oo-nung-a.)
You will see the ones that I make throughout this site. They are based on the head gear made by the people in the Bearing Sea area between North America and Russia.
A number of years ago I received a book, Glory Remembered by Lydia T. Black, on this subject as a gift. I was blown away by these incredible hats and visors. Many years later I had the opportunity to take a class on how to make them from Bill Holm. Then in 2010 I participated in a workshop with Patricia Lekanoff Gregory on making hats and visors. I think they are one of the most incredible artistic expressions of cultural belief and skill that exists. They are not easy to make. I get about a one-out-of-three (or four) success rate when bending.
The two books I would recommend are: Glory Remembered by Lydia T. Black, Alaska State Museums, 1991. (Deals exclusively with hats,) and The Alutiit/Sugpiat A Catalog of the Collections of the Kunstkamera, University of Alaska Press, Fairbanks. (Covers many types of Bering Sea cultural
objects.)
Bill Holm's class at Kestrel Tools
A great class; Bill's knowledge is impressive.
Bill's Hat
Bill's hat sitting on my first attempt at making one.
Look at all the hats and visors
Patricia's workshop at Lummi; so many great people sharing a common interest. One of my all- time great days.
Layout and steaming process
Some photos to help understand the process. Once the hat is bent and the back seam is sewn up, the work of decorating begins.
Me steaming and bending a hat
In this photo you can see how thin you get the wood so it can bend where it needs to. It's so thin you can see light through it.
Dave's first hat
Dave Franklin making the final bend to close the back seam on his first hat. You can see the pre drilled holes along the back edges for sewing the seam together.
Painted detail from one of my hats
This hat painting illustrates the story of a time when animals and humans took different paths, and one became the hunter and one became the hunted.
Orca detail from one of my hats
Almost always at the top of a hat is the image of a bird or animal.
Rear of one of my hats showing sealion whiskers
As part of the decoration on the side flanges and back piece, sea lion whiskers, small feathers and beads were added.
On my hats I make simulated sea lion whiskers, and replace the traditional walrus ivory side flanges and back pieces with wooden ones. I don't use ivory or real sea lion whiskers because of legal and conservation concerns.
On my hats I make simulated sea lion whiskers, and replace the traditional walrus ivory side flanges and back pieces with wooden ones. I don't use ivory or real sea lion whiskers because of legal and conservation concerns.
Hunters in a double hatch kayak
One of two of the only photos of these hats being worn that I've found.
Hunters
Two men in typical hunting gear. Along with their hats they also have Unangax style throwing boards with arrows for hunting sea animals. They are both wearing kamleikas [rain parkas] that are made from gut, sealskin, sea lion esophagus and sinew. Their boots are probably sealskin.
An old bentwood hat
This beautiful old hat shows the remarkable painted decoration and delicate ivory carving that is typical. The side flanges have fallen forward and cause the hat to look out of balance.
Visors and closed-crown chief's hats from the Kunstkamera Museum in Petersburg, Russia
Because of the early contact between the Russians and the people of the Bering Straits through the sea otter trade, the museum in Petersburg has an extensive collection of Bering Sea cultural material.
Old Norton Sound visor
This old visor from the Norton Sound area is typical in its construction and decoration. It has a spray of cormorant feathers, side flanges, multiple walrus heads and large bird head ivory decorations.
My attempt to recreate a Norton Sound visor
This was a challenging and fun project for me to figure out. Instead of cormorant feathers, I used rooster tail feathers for the spray and replaced the ivory with wood. The grass loop that holds the feathers is made of raffia instead of beach grass. Again, the reason for not using some of the traditional material is because of legal and conservation reasons.
Unangax style visor by Scott Jensen
This is my first attempt at an open crown visor. It's interesting to note that the sea lion whisker decoration on these visors is only on one side of the visor. I think that's so they don't interfere when using a throwing board.
Paint detail
Steady hand for this part.
Making a hat out of glass
In 2004 I was one of four artists chosen for the John H. Hauberg Fellowship at Pilchuck Glass School. My project was to make an Unangax chief's hat in glass. With much technical assistance from Leslie and Melanie Rowe; without their help I never could have made this. Here you can see my first wooden hat from Bill Holm's class that I used to make the mold (which is in the background,) as well as a piece of clear glass used to do a test slump.
Fusing everything together
After cutting out each different colored piece of glass and carefully placing them so I could add powdered frit and small bits of glass between the pieces, they were heated and fused together into a solid sheet.
Glass and mold in the kiln
Trying to line up the center of the glass with the mold so it will be symmetrical when it slumps.
That's hot
After many hours in the kiln, the glass had slumped over the mold. The only thing left was to push the back seam together with wooden paddles.
Hat complete
Hat is complete with all the decorations. It is pictured here on display at Stonington Gallery.
Back of hat
The back piece is tied on through holes drilled in the glass. The side flanges and front piece are glued on.
Detail
The back piece top decoration is a hunter in parka, wearing a chief's hat and using a throwing board with arrow.