“How To Be A Good Guest” is a discussion-based workshop by artist Melissa Shaginoff on March 11th, 1-3pm at her studio in The Nave in Anchorage.

Part conversation, part performance, part community protection. How to be a good guest is a project shaped by the brilliance and intention of Indigenous introduction. To create community we must first understand each other and to understand each other we must first introduce ourselves. In a mad-libs format, “How To Be G Good Guest” asks the participants to share about themselves and the knowledge they have of the land they currently stand on. This work is about the protection of community and the best way we do that is to understand how we relate and connect to each other and the land. Interested in participating? Email info@bunnellarts.org

Melissa Shaginoff is part of the Udzisyu (caribou) and Cui Ui Ticutta (fish-eater) clans from Nay’dini’aa Na Kayax (the log over the river or Chickaloon Village). She grew up on the southern coast of Alaska where she learned the lifeways of her cousins the Dena’ina peoples. As both an Artist and Curator her work revolves around identity and representation. Working within institutions Shaginoff sees her work as an act of making space; space for others, space for change and space to be present. She has participated in the Sheldon Jackson Museum Artist Residency in Sitka, Alaska as well as the Island Mountain Arts Toni Onley Painting Residency in Wells, British Columbia. Shaginoff has work collected by the Institute of American Indian Arts, the Palmer Museum, and the Pratt Museum.

This opportunity is supported by The CIRI Foundation.