Julie Shor (née David) was born on Nunivak Island, Alaska. Shor contracted tuberculosis in 1950 and was sent to live at the Mount Edgecumbe Sanitorium in Sitka, Alaska. The Bureau of Indian Affairs had a program during this period that encouraged Mount Edgecumbe residents to create arts and crafts to be sold to tourists and visitors, and it’s likely that Shor developed her weaving skills there. She lived in a variety of places in and out the state, including the major hubs of Seattle and Anchorage, before settling in Palmer, Alaska, in the 1970s.

Nunivak weavers are renowned for their coiled grass baskets. This piece takes the classic knob-top lidded basket shape and reimagines it in the form of a puffin. The eyes, feet, and beak are imbricated with dyed grass onto the basket surface, which is otherwise left plain. The resulting figural puffin basket is both charming and unique.