"She was companion, and someone to hold in the dark nights on the trails.  She had always been nearby and with her was a crystalline clarity of the Mammoth from which she was borne. Her spirit was lost in ice and frozen for thirty thousand years until discovered by a young shaman.  A section of Ice Age Mammoth tusk then sculpted into an 'Amulet' from a vision.  She was ill in his dream, emaciated and shocking but powerful as all deities are from another ghostly dimension.  It was such as the shift of life took on this air of old age in the spirit realm offered to the few, in life, gifted to visit.  She was lost again, from the Shaman at the end of his life, and buried in the muskeg tundra deep in ice and melted winter.  Centuries had passed in sleep, until the sea had thawed the iced burial tossing the grave onto the beach. She had been found and now held in the warmth of the living as sunlight once again gleaned her saturated iced ivory.  She has stories to tell, just listen to her as you hold her, one of the time of the Mammoth, and many to follow in the hands of ancient hunters and people of magic, of times lost to extinction, yet clearly a time of mystery"  

"He walked out at night, during high winds to not disturb the dogs. It was too early for anyone to notice he had done so. His walking stick of Diamond Willow, he had taken as driftwood many years ago that came out from the Yukon river. He found it one Spring while gathering wood for his lodge, and was pleased to use it to help him get around. He walked now for many hours to the south, accompanied with only his Amulet, an ivory carving he made during his Shamanic life when he traveled from village to village.  Now he was lame, and old with suffering often too intense to bear. He had left this village for the last time now, with his Amulet of a man, to be his guide to his departure as it had done during his best years.  He rested now for a while, near the roots of a driftwood cottonwood to block the building winds and finished his last salmon as he looked out over the Chukchi Sea.  The Amulet was warm, as it remained under his tunic, as he now held it in his hand, an old friend whom never left his side.  He walked on now, up to the hills, to overlook the sea and the faint smoke of the village to the far north as a swan soared overhead.  Sitting now in the wind he removed his tunic and cloak, to his side, he removed all clothing in his song of departure as the Arctic helped his ascension...the Amulet grew cold now, frozen in his hands to be frozen still, a thousand years later." 

"It was named St. Lawrence Island, out in the middle of the Beirng Sea, between Siberia and mainland Alaska.  I have always disliked this name, it has nothing to do with it's true name, a name that remains unknown to this day at least for me. I am in preference to realize this old name for such an important place, and perhaps eventually it will come to pass that it shall be 'renamed' again more appropriately.  It is like so many historic and prehistoric native locations that have been named in English or other, that requires this change. When I am asked about these locations, I never divulge the new common conquered titles, instead as close as I can to offer it's true namesake, not St. Lawrence Island, but perhaps 'Yupik Island.' 

"Woolly Mammoth Ivory discovered in beach gravels above the Arctic Circle of Alaska, utilized to perpetuate motif lost and now extinct in the Arctic and elsewhere now is my endeavor.  This motif is ancient Yupik, of Siberia and Punuk Island Alaska within the Bering Sea.  These ancient Yupik artisans were the most elaborate culture within the circumpolar region of the Arctic, and are very noteworthy with their cultural identity. My interest is to continue these traditions developed within my studio, to offer anyone with an interest in such 'Amulets' as I am the only artist offering such wondrous treasures "  

Centuries with so many revolutions around the sun, when nomadic hunters in their seasonal sojourns from their summer camps to winter stay, found them on the trails of Caribou, Bear, and Seals.  They were experts in country, as they traversed all of it with a knowing of what they could find to survive such long winters and mosquito infested summers. Threats were and still are common place in these regions as they lived out their lives successfully with a technology very well suited to such environment.  Small, lightweight projectile end blades were 'flaked' off larger chert cores blanks that they found in rivers and beaches.  Designed so well with balance to effectively take Caribou, Bear and other creatures in their region.  War was also occasional and had been deadly accurate with such stone points well placed, but Humans whom they were, come to no surprise from our extensive track records as evidence still can be discovered from their passings.  

"All along the Alaskan beaches for hundreds of miles from the Bering to the Chukchi Seas, the beaches are devastated by erosion. Call it 'Global Warming,' or other, but where there were once beaches that I recognized in some regions are altered and gone. Ancient prehistoric and historic village sites along with historic hunting and fishing encampments are now underwater and in the sea. I am not positioning myself to collect, save for photos that I can use in the future to replicate motif that is considered extinct.  My studio is the only one from the Arctic that offers such designs from lost Arctic cultural horizons" 

"Reverse of Arctic, Alaskan Human Figure Amulet revealing the skeletal motif of a Shaman deity depicting a vision of an 'OBE' as was typical of ancient Shaman intentions. (Five inches in height, a dramatic version of an out of body experience, 'OBE' into a vision realm. Amulets are very rare, but were often passed down from many generations unless they proved to be ill-effective, then were buried with the last holder, ultimately frozen and well preserved in permafrost ice until thawed and resurfaced naturally or archaeologically)."  

"2014 finds me in the Arctic again, with a few original artifacts and an entire inventory of lost and extinct motif offerings of primarily Woolly Mammoth Ivory to begin my endeavor of preserving these designs in a physical extinct Mammoth ivory display.  I will be presenting these pieces in route to the Arctic and often even the locals enjoy their prehistoric heritage brought to them for personal Amulets and Talismans that I offer."  

Ancient Ivory and Bone artifacts of all descriptions are eroding into the Bering and Chukchi Seas of Arctic Alaska due to the apparent Global Warming scenario.  In some ways, ancient designs are being discovered for my endeavor to collect motifs and then in the future to offer them in some artistic format to preserve them. Many of these designs are to remain in an extinct posture as virtually no one records them apart from museums and private collections yet these 'motif' are of such mastery as to be a renaissance that spans the Far North from a thousand to three thousand years ago. "For certain, in summer every day, are ancient village sites falling into the sea and along with it, lost designs and art to be reburied underwater."   (Okvik, Yupik, Bering Sea type harpoons in this photo of Mammoth Ivory, the two on the left are now in a private museum). 

"It would be easier should I use a photo or something as a reference to work with.  No, instead I make it difficult for myself, and insist on doing a painting out of my head. So then it turns out something, fantasy.  No buildings or people, plain country, without fences, a quiet peaceful time, a moment in a place in the Universe between 'other times.' I painted this during the Joplin Missouri tornado devastation."

"Of course he changed his direction and now coming straight at me. Snapping his jaws sharply, moving closer with every step.  I have to finally say something, as his eyesight may be not so good, or he is just a little too curious. With a firm attitude, I made my point as he turned away, and proceeded down the stream..looking over his shoulder."

"Out of Nome, Alaska and beach combing off a Polaris four-wheeler, I come across a winter-killed walrus, now a continuous visitation by bears. Seagulls, and Plovers too, From this photo looks like a huge barbequed sausage. So off I went down the beach and back to Nome as the smell of such a creature advertises it's menu for miles and miles."

"An older Grizzly Bear track in the sand, it is somewhat easy to see how old a track is.  Important because, especially in sand, a fresh track wears out fairly quickly due to winds, and rain will alter the print very quickly.  When I view this track, I feel it to be a few hours old, and perhaps a day old. The weather had not been too windy and no rain. So this track was not new, and of little concern unless there is a beached whale, seal or walrus.  Bears are usually scavenging on carrion from winterkill and this can be a dangerous encounter, I usually turn around and change beaches."

"Limitless distance, on foot, beach combing, that seemingly never ends. Trekking the miles, investigating every curious object that catches the eye. This day was a sunny day, as I follow a set of fresh Grizzly Bear tracks in the sand.  So now all of a sudden the day takes a different focus.  Now, just thinking where this bear might be. Mid-day could find him asleep down the beach in the tall grass.  He might be here because of a winter kill seal or walrus, in a very protective emotion. If he should see me there could easily be a confrontation. So I look back to where the boat is, too far down the beach now to see it, but I return to it anyway, to the boat, and back out in the sea, no gun...sometimes too heavy to lug around."

"They may be 'spotted' by low-flying aircraft, or just simply walking down to a river or stream.  Standing on a gravel bar, looking for salmon or char, and suddenly woven within the gravel and grasses is a Woolly Mammoth Tusk. Out of nowhere, and almost anywhere a tusk may present itself in the Arctic or sub-Arctic.  This country is vast, especially remote and inaccessible. The last glacier Ice Age is still on the surface of many areas here, not buried as in some regions but exposed out in the open, and in some cases the permafrost lets go of it's treasures."

"Low tide runs six inches without the winds. Clouds changing colors all evening, no sun will set.  Tent is up braced with driftwood tripod, wind break, clouds rifling by.  Its a quiet storm, off now for another walk, just before I find my tracks back to camp again."

"Usually spend time in Anchorage before I leave for the Arctic, sometimes in Fairbanks, rolling hills, on the way to treeline, summer and streams are clear and cool, everything still crisp.  Denali heralds it's profile dwarfing mountains. Moose step up and cross roads, swimming rivers, stepping up over the banks.  Eagles waiting for the first signs of migration. Running Black Bears,  buzzing of mosquito wings.....

"An abandoned house, from the 1890's in Arctic Alaska, may take a couple of centuries to totally disappear. I do not even know, as objects erode slowly this far north due to year-round cold temperatures.  It is always exciting to stumble onto such old places all along the Bering and Chukchi Sea."

"The old Okvik Shaman, the 'village healer' set off into the morning nite. The villagers did not want him to hunt, he was too old, and well loved. He had no apprentice and concern was always the air.  He was already in darkness with a slight ray of light on the horizon, morning climbing into his kayak. He was out for manatee, They were huge but so was his heart to capture one last time, manatee, Steller...It surfaced under the boat, as the water raised him almost to the point of sideways sliding downward.  Manatee breach, the old battles remembered now and returned.  Not by will, but well trained reflex's, he through the harpoon.  It arched high with lanyard cable anchored and locked to the hull. Driven deep the harpoon sliced, below the flipper bone.  Bull Manatee, thirty feet and more long, dragging the slack cable taught as the boat lurched forward into spray pulling the bow into deep sea green.  The kayak, now over slipping under now free from a harpoon that kills twice, being towed beneath the waves, jerks upward back into the frey. The Bull pulls away into the deep, as the old Shaman, searches for the paddle, and finds his harpoon with the missing broken tip.  Returning to the village, everyone nearly cried seeing that he was well, but empty handed.  Weeks passed when another village hunter brought in a Bull Manatee, as the villagers began dividing it to share. The village chief, brought the old Shaman, his father, a large piece of the manatee meat, with his broken harpoon still stuck in place." (Such legends that saved the old Shaman from drowning from a broken harpoon...powerful Amulet). 

"Roughly ten thousand years distant, our ancient families experienced viewing these Mammoths on occasion. They were as common as our modern viewings of Moose in Alaska no doubt. We can imagine, then, being stunned when you walk to a stream for your morning bath, and a huge bull Mammoth emerges through the bush, stop and looking at you for a minute or longer with tusks over fourteen feet in length. Squatting in this stream making yourself as small as possible, as just behind this bull is several others as they cross the stream all around you. They step lightly all the while keeping their 'apple' sized eyes trained on your small white / brown bundle in this chilling water. Several of them blasting air out of their trunks, stopping to drink and splash water every where, creating a muddy scenario from clear water. Then the group of huge Mammoth continue down the stream with grumblings and vocals, this indeed happened during the time of the Ice age, happened to folks living among them, and not always were there aggressive postures, but acceptance among two powerful species, in their  passing."