Carvings and Sculpture
#O-1 & #O-2. Pair of action powwow dancers, carved wood, fur, deerskin, feathers, paint. Signed, C. V. Hill, '97, 13 in. tall. These are a fine example of contemporary Navajo folk art, with their dramatic full-feather bustles, feather wands in each hand, and poised in a dance step, with one foot raised. $80 each, both for $150. SOLD
#O-3. Eagle katsina.,
by Priscilla Ration, Navajo, 19" high x 26" wingspan.
A similar one may be ordered at $475.
#O-4 & #O-5. Navajo teddy
bears, 18" tall. Each is handmade and signed by the maker,
a member of a Navajo cooperative in New Mexico, and no two are
alike. These bears are by Rachael Curley.You may specify a color
range preference, such as mostly red (as on left) or mostly grey
and black (as on right). Other color choices are also available.
$95 each. The one on the left has been SOLD, but a similar
one may be ordered.
Group of Inuit
carvings, shown below.
#I-1. Seal, 4-1/2" long
x 1-1/2" wide x 2" high, signed in syllabics. $120.
#I-3. Bird, 3-1/4" long
x 3-3/4" high, signed in syllabics and "EN." $110.
SOLD.
#I-4. Bird with turned head,
ca. 1960s, 5" long x 3" high, signed in syllabics. $220.
#I-5. Flying bird, ca. 1960s,
6-1/4" long x 5-1/2" wide, signed in syllabics. $320.
#I-7. Man in kayak (fittings missing). Man carved separately
to lift out of kayak seat, 12" long x 5" high x 4"
wide, signed in syllabics. SOLD.
#I-13. Humpback whale, contemporary, Canadian Inuit, stone,
12-1/2" long x 7" wide. I call this "broken whale,"
because one of its tail flukes was broken in shipping, en route
to me. You can see the repair in the picture to the right, on
the rear fluke in the foreground. This carving would be about
$450-$500 if it had not been damaged. I offer it at $200. It seems
to symbolize the fragility of this marvelous species at the mercy
of the human race. SOLD
#I-14. This artifact
has a special poignancy for me. I bought it at an auction as part
of a lot of Inuit carvings, not knowing what it was. A gentleman
sitting next to me told me it was a Russian whale blubber scraper.
He pointed out the Russian letter carved into its handle, and
the exceptional smoothness of the stone, coated and worn by years
of contact with whales. I am showing it here as an artifact of
destruction, for it was largely the combined massive force and
scale of the American, Russian, Norwegian, and Japanese whaling
trade, and the use of mechanized hunting methods in the 19th and
20th centuries, which has resulted in the near-extinction of most
whale species. The Inuit and Aleut peoples who hunted whales for
subsistence and survival never carried on a hunt of the scope
that endangered species. This slaughter is still going on today,
to supply whale meat for markets in Japan and other parts of Asia.
Norway is also participating in the hunting of whales, which has
no connection today whatsoever with the subsistence or survival
of people in these countries. 
Write to: Migrations, P.O. Box 543, Newton, MA 02456