Painting Atmautluak 1
Bethel airport in the fog photo.
In the early 1980’s I was selected to create a piece of art to be installed in a new school in the village of Atmautluak, located in the Lower Kuskowim Delta School District, Bethel, Alaska. This seemed like a great opportunity to learn more about Alaska, but I had some concerns about the logistics. I lived in the the remote settlement of Copper Center, Alaska, over two hundred miles from Anchorage, and could not find Atmautluak on any map, anywhere. Nevertheless, I approached the project with a spirit of adventure and prepared for a one week visit to the Yupik village during the dark, cold month of February.
The project coordinator booked me on a 8:00PM commercial flight to Bethel and advised that I would be flown into the village by a small single engine aircraft the next morning. My instructions were to pack light. I had one suitcase with enough clothes for a week and art supplies to do quick sketches with watercolor and pencils, another case contained camera and lenses. In addition I carried a sleeping bag, sleeping pad, heavy parka, and bunny boots. Since guest facilities were not available in the village, I planned to sleep and eat in the school. Limited groceries were available in the village, so adding another box to my already burgeoning gear, I purchased enough groceries in Bethel to cook my meals.
Bethel airport storage photo.
I was a little unsure as to how I would carry this awkward assortment of gear as we loaded it into the small single engine plane in the dense fog at the Bethel airport the next morning. Waiting for the fog to lift I killed time by checking out the airport. This was not a good idea because some of the sights I saw, including wrecked airplanes, added to my growing apprehension about the wisdom of this whole experience. It was late afternoon before I climbed awkwardly into the passenger seat, sitting stiff like a mummy in my huge parka and bunny boots I began my adventure north to Atmautluak.
More tomorrow.
Gail Niebrugge, Alaska Artist
