Thank you supporters!
Support Indigenous Land Acknowledgment Public Art Sculpture
Tuyanitun: Tuggeht (pronounced too-yan-eee-toon : to-get) is a public art sculpture installed in October, 2022. It was designed by Ninilchik Village Tribal member and artist Argent Kvasnikoff, with the intention of making land acknowledgment visible and broadly accessible. The sculpture anchors a wider, upcoming revamp of Bishop’s Beach Park and Pavillion.
- Tuyanitun is a direction based on the ancient Dena’ina wayfinding system.
- Tuggeht is the Dena’ina name for the place also known as Bishop’s Beach.
- The sculpture marks a place beloved by all and evokes boreal spruce, rock cairns, and beach glass.
The community partnership between the Ninilchik Village Tribe, the City of Homer, Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge and Bunnell Street Arts Center signals a commitment to tell the true story of this place, and that Homer today occupies unceded Indigenous lands.
This Community Arts Partnership project is supported by grants from Alaska Community Foundation, Alaska State Council on the Arts, Cook Inlet Tribal Council, National Endowment for the Arts, National Performance Network, Ninilchik Tribal Council, and Rasmuson Foundation.
Made Possible by
Alaska Community Foundation Social Justice Fund
Alaska State Council on the Arts
The City of Homer
Cook Inlet Tribal Council
National Endowment for the Arts
National Performance Network
Rasmuson Foundation
The Ninilchik Village Tribe
and these community donors:
Sunny Aldrich, Anonymous, Annette and Marvin Bellamy, Myesha & Christian Callahan Freet, Denice & Roger Clyne, Tom Collopy & Mary Frische, Mary & Tom Chouinard, Shannon Daut, Ken Lanfield, Charlotte Fox, Claudia Haines, Karin Holser, Lily Hope, Robert & Kris Hoffman, Lilly Kelly, Asia Freeman & Michael Walsh, Amy and Craig Fredeen, Susan Johnson, Winter Marshall-Allen, Diane McBride, Jo & Peter Michalski, Hollis Mickey, Mountain Spirit Works, Rachel Mulvihil, Margaret Nicolai, Bridget Maryott, Rika & John Mouw, Chris & Angie Newby, Adele Person, Bernie Person, Uncle Herb’s, Joseph Piper, Sallie & Dan Rediske, Bob & Miranda Shavelson-Weiss, Carol Swartz, Vamoose Alaska Vacation Rentals, Susanne Ratcliffe Wilson, Lori & Tom Zitzmann, Robanne Stadling, Mary Lou Kelsey, Thorey Munro, and Christina Fenner.
Land Acknowledgment Sculpture Funded
Thank you for your support of Tuyanitun : Tuggeht. We surpassed our fundraising goal with $18,239 with donations ranging from $25 to $5000, and with additional support from Alaska Community Foundation Social Justice Fund, Alaska State Council on the Arts, Automotive Collision Experts, The City of Homer, Cook Inlet Tribal Council, Midton Acrylics, National Endowment for the Arts, National Performance Network, Rasmuson Foundation, and of course the Ninilchik Village Tribe. The community support of this project, and all we have learned from its creation, is inspiring.
Due to construction delays, primarily because of shipping and weather, the September 24th installation and dedication of Tuyanitun : Tuggeht must be postponed.
We deeply appreciate your support of this incredible project, and look forward to celebrating its installation later this fall. Stay tuned!
Thank you to these generous community donors for your support for Tuyanitun : Tuggeht:
Sunny Aldrich, Anonymous, Annette and Marvin Bellamy, Myesha & Christian Callahan Freet, Denice & Roger Clyne, Tom Collopy & Mary Frische, Mary & Tom Chouinard, Shannon Daut, Ken Lanfield, Charlotte Fox, Claudia Haines, Karin Holser, Lily Hope, Robert & Kris Hoffman, Lilly Kelly, Asia Freeman & Michael Walsh, Amy and Craig Fredeen, Susan Johnson, Winter Marshall-Allen, Diane McBride, Jo & Peter Michalski, Hollis Mickey, Mountain Spirit Works, Rachel Mulvihil, Margaret Nicolai, Bridget Maryott, Rika & John Mouw, Chris & Angie Newby, Adele Person, Bernie Person, Uncle Herb’s, Joseph Piper, Sallie & Dan Rediske, Bob & Miranda Shavelson-Weiss, Carol Swartz, Vamoose Alaska Vacation Rentals, Susanne Ratcliffe Wilson, Lori & Tom Zitzmann, Robanne Stadling, Mary Lou Kelsey, Thorey Munro, and Christina Fenner.
Bunnell Street Arts Center Aims to Raise $15,000 for Tuyanitun : Tuggeht Sculpture
Bunnell Street Arts Center is pleased to announce that the National Endowment for the Arts has approved Bunnell Street Arts Center for an Our Town grant in the amount of $50,000 to work in partnership with the Ninilchik Village Tribe and the City of Homer to support fabrication of Tuyanitun: Tuggeht, an Indigenous landmarking sculpture at Bishops Beach Beach Park in Homer. We look forward to working with the Arts Endowment to finalize the award paperwork and appreciate the agency’s support for this project. Tuyanitun: Tuggeht anchors future renovations to Bishops Beach Park the vision for which includes new restrooms, expanded parking, a fire pit and cohesive signage.
In 2020, The Ninilchik Traditional Council, the government of the Niqnalchint/Ninilchik Village Tribe, approved the concept for Tuyanitun: Tuggeht proposed by tribal member and artist, Argent Kvasnikoff. Next, Bunnell Street Arts Center brought the project to the City of Homer Parks, Art, Recreation and Culture Commission which approved and brought it to the City Council. With Resolution 20-079, the City of Homer approved and accepted the gift of Tuyanitun: Tuggeht, a sculpture for the Municipal Art Collection.
As a landmarking project, Tuyanitun: Tuggeht elevates the visibility of Indigenous ancestral lands. Homer is situated within the tribal lands of Nichiłt’ana. Nichiłt’ana is a contemporary geographical ethnonym for Ninilchik Village Tribe, whose descendants trace their roots from the ancient Kachemak peoples, and the Dena’ina and Sugpiaq people of this region who have sustained these lands since time immemorial. Tuggeht is the Dena’ina name for the place settlers have called Bishops Beach since the mid 1900’s. Tuggeht means “at the shore” in Dena’ina. Tuyanitun: Tuggeht represents a single point in the larger concept of place and navigation. Tuyanitun marks a wayfinding point referring to a traditional Dena’ina system of navigation embedded in the landscape based on five directions radiating from the Ninilchik Dome.
Our Town is the Arts Endowment’s creative placemaking grants program, supporting projects that integrate arts, culture, and design activities into efforts that strengthen communities by advancing local economic, physical, and/or social outcomes. Of the more than $88 million in funding included in this announcement are 63 Our Town projects totaling $4 million. These grants will support creative placemaking projects in 28 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and Northern Mariana Islands. This year, a significant number of organizations submitted proposals with powerful visions for how arts, culture, and design can guide communities towards reconciliation and meaningful change. The Our Town portfolio is diverse in many respects. The common thread is their desire to establish new ways of working that sustain the integration of arts, culture, and design into strategies for strengthening communities.
With the City’s acceptance of Tuyanitun: Tuggeht as a municipal public art project, a working group formed, including the artist/designer, Argent Kvasnikoff, representatives and staff of the City of Homer, Islands and Ocean and Bunnell Street Arts Center. The working group began to meet last year to plan and discuss how the project would unfold. Tuyanitun: Tuggeht is currently in the modeling phase. Midton Acrylics in the United Kingdom will cast the sculpture, beginning with a small scale model to help raise awareness and community support. (Scale model pictured here) The project will be completed by 9/30/22. Bunnell will host a video-cast conversation about the sculpture with Argent Kvasnikoff and community partners on June 11, 2021.
Tuyanitun: Tuggeht design and artist fees and community engagement are supported by Bunnell Street Arts Center with support from the National Performance Network’s Artist Engagement Fund.
Qetitl’ Ka ’a Dedication Ceremony for Tuyanitun: Tuggeht, September 24th, 2022
Join us on September 24, from 1 – 2 pm at Bishop’s Beach Park and Pavilion for Tuyanitun Qetitl’ Ka’a, a dedication ceremony for the installation of the Indigenous landmarking sculpture Tuyanitun : Tuggeht. The event is hosted by the Ninilchik Village Tribe. (In the case of inclement weather, the reception will be at Alaska’s Islands and Ocean Visitor Center.)
Tuyanitun: Tuggeht is a public art sculpture for the City of Homer’s municipal art collection conceived by Ninilchik Village Tribal member and artist Argent Kvasnikoff with the intention of making land acknowledgement visible and broadly accessible.
Speakers include Ninilchik Traditional Council President Greg Encelewski; Ninilchik Traditional Council’s Executive Director, Ivan Encelewski; Homer City Council member, Donna Alderhold; and Ninilchik Village Tribe member and conceptual artist Argent Kvasnikoff. The event will feature refreshments, storytelling by Skywalker Payne, and music by Willow Patrick.
The dedication is followed by a showing of Native Youth Olympic games at the Alaska Islands and Ocean Visitor Center from 2:30 to 5 pm.
The community partnership between Ninilchik Village Tribe, City of Homer, Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge, and Bunnell Street Arts Center signals a commitment to recognize that Homer is found on Indigenous lands and to tell more inclusive stories about this place and its peoples. Land acknowledgment is an expression of respect for the land and the people who have stewarded it for millennia.
Tuyanitun:Tuggeht is supported by the Alaska State Council on the Arts Community Arts Partnership grant, the National Endowment for the Arts, Ninilchik Tribal Council, Cook Inlet Tribal Council, National Performance Network with additional funding from Rasmuson Foundation.
Qetit’l Ggwa: Tuyanitun development and Bishop’s Beach Revitalization Plan, June 25, 2021
Stake holders gather to discuss the development of Tuynaitun and the over-arching project of Bishop’s Beach Revitalization plan.
Read the recent article from the Homer News June 24, 2021