In 2022, the Alaska Native Heritage Center collaborated with the Alaska office of the Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center on a project to perpetuate and strengthen Alaska Native knowledges of natural dyes stewarded for generations. The Batuk’enelyashi: Natural Dyes from Dena’ina Lands project – led by Alaska Native master artist June (Simeonoff) Parude, assisted by her granddaughter and apprentice Destinee VonScheele – included research, harvesting, experimentation, documentation and a weeklong educational workshop attended by an intergenerational group of Alaska Native artists and students. All work took place on the lands of the Dena’ina Athabascan people. The project was inspired by the foundational work on documenting natural dyes by Elder Rita Pitka Blumenstein in the 1984 book Earth Dyes, Nuunam Qaralirkai: Dyes for Grass Made from Natural Materials, published by the Institute of Alaska Native Arts.

During the Batuk’enelyashi project, different materials were sustainably harvested and experimented with for making and using as dyes: birch, willow and cottonwood tree bark; cottonwood and alder tree leaves, cottonwood tree catkins, low-bush cranberries (lingonberries), blueberries, black currants, dandelion flower and leaves, devil’s club buds and stinging nettle buds. Materials dyed included salmon skin, seal intestine, moose hide, porcupine quill, rye grass, spruce root, silk fabric and merino wool yarn. This video set features June and Destinee teaching how to sustainably harvest plants, make natural dyes, dye materials, naturally tan salmon skin, and more, along with June’s students and artists attending the workshop. The additional resources here provided include a 48-page instructional booklet (2023) with photos and detailed information: dye recipes for hot and cold baths with different materials, harvesting plants, and general dyeing notes about supplies, preparations, additives, and techniques from start to finish. The site also includes a 47-page PDF of samples from the project workshop, a PDF about wild Alaska berries from the University of Alaska Cooperative Extension Service, and a PDF about Alaska trees from the USDA.

To learn more about the Dena’ina people, please visit the National Park Service website “Dena’ina Athabascan Culture” at https://www.nps.gov/lacl/learn/historyculture/denainaculture.htm, a project led by Dena’ina anthropologist Karen Evanoff in collaboration with Dena’ina community members. You can also visit the online resources from the 2013 Anchorage Museum exhibition Dena’inaq’ Huch’ulyeshi: The Dena’ina Way of Living, co-curated by Dena’ina historian Aaron Leggett at https://www.anchoragemuseum.org/exhibits/denainaq-huchulyeshi-the-denaina-way-of-living/exhibit-overview.

NOTE: The knowledge that Alaska Natives (Indigenous peoples of Alaska) have shared on this site is their cultural heritage, and they have cultural property rights for this knowledge. Please utilize what you learn from Alaska Natives with respect to their rights, which includes not using what you learn for personal gain such as selling artwork derived from this knowledge. To learn more about how to appreciate Alaska Native cultures respectfully, please go to the collection https://learninglab.si.edu/q/ll-c/Ha7AjCcnSBrgNbJt#r/44789
on this site where you will find a video and additional resources to learn more.

The Batuk’enelyashi: Natural Dyes from Dena'ina Lands project has been made possible in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Sustaining Humanities through the American Rescue Plan in partnership with the Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums. Note: “Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent those of the Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums or the National Endowment for the Humanities.”