Steering Committee
Melissa Shaginoff
Ahtna & Paiute | Interdisciplinary artist & museum specialist
Nay’dini’aa Na Kayax (Chickaloon Village, Alaska)
mshaginoff.com
Melissa Shaginoff, of the Udzisyu (caribou) and Cui Ui Ticutta (fish-eater) clans from Nay’dini’aa Na Kayax (Chickaloon Village, Alaska), is an interdisciplinary artist and museum specialist of Ahtna and Paiute descent. Working on Dena’ina lands in Dghayitnu (Anchorage), her art practice focuses on conversation to deepen understanding through exchange and reciprocity. Melissa has completed residencies in Alaska, Canada, Sweden, and New Mexico and curated for several institutions, including the Anchorage Museum. She operates the Indigenous-centered Kuzuundze’ ts’eghaanden Gallery and contributes to Łuk’ae Tse’ Taas Comics, creating language materials and sharing Dene knowledge.
Erin Ggaadimits Ivalu Gingrich
Koyuokon Dené & Iñupiaq | Carver & Interdisciplinary artist
Anchorage/Cohoe, Alaska
ggaadimitsivalu.com
Erin Ggaadimits Ivalu Gingrich is a Koyukon Dené and Iñupiaq carver and interdisciplinary artist working and subsisting in South-Central Alaska on Denaʼina homelands. Honoring her arctic and subarctic ancestral homelands, Ivalu’s work represents what has tied her and her ancestors to the North. Through carved, painted, and beaded sculpture, mask, and lens-based forms, Ivalu creates representations of the revered wild relatives that have provided for her and her ancestors. Ivalu is a 2025 Eiteljorg Contemporary Art Fellow and her work has been exhibited at Art Basel Miami Beach, The Armory Show, The Contemporary Native Art Biennial, and The Anchorage Museum.
Jerrod Galanin
Lingít | Engraver, Visual Arts, Crafts & Sculptural artist
Sitka, Alaska
jerrodgalanin.com
Jerrod comes from a long lineage of Tlingit artists spanning multiple generations. His art is more than a career—it is a calling. His work captures the elegance and complexity intrinsic to Tlingit culture. Mentored by his father and uncle, he has embraced their knowledge, integrating traditional and contemporary techniques into his work. Utilizing materials like silver, copper, and wood, his art celebrates Tlingit resilience and defiance against centuries of colonization. His art exhibited across Alaska and the Pacific Northwest, seeks to honor his ancestors and inspire future generations, sharing the rich beauty of his heritage with the world.
Alex Sallee
Inupiaq | Filmmaker, Writer & Producer
Dgheyey Kaq’ (Anchorage), Kigiktaq (Shishmaref) & Sitnasuaq (Nome)
inuaproductions.com
Alex is Inupiaq and grew up in Dgheyey Kaq’ (Anchorage), Alaska with family ties in Kigiktaq (Shishmaref) and Sitnasuaq (Nome). Her love of filmmaking started in sound design and received her BA in Recording Arts in 2012. After years in audio post-production working in feature films and television, her move to directing and producing was after feeling the need to see Alaska Native representation in film. Her directorial debut Who We Are is a personal project discussing climate change and dedicated to her Inupiat ancestors. In October 2021, she premiered Dear Kin, a storytelling project that highlights individuals from the Alaska Native LGBTQIA2S+ community through video and portraiture. Sallee collaborated with MTV Entertainment to create original work for Native Heritage Month 2021. She co-wrote and directed Celebrating Our Beauty for the global platform, sharing Alaska Native tattoos traditionally done by women and the power they carry.
Sonya Kelliher-Combs
Inupiaq & Koyukon Athabascan | Mixed media painting, sculpture, and crafts
Nome, Nulato & Utqiavik
sonyakellihercombs.com
Sonya Kelliher-Combs, raised in Nome, Alaska, holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and a Master of Fine Arts from Arizona State University. Through her mixed media paintings and sculptures, she explores self-definition and identity within the Alaskan context, blending shared iconography with personal imagery. Her work transcends cultural dichotomies by integrating synthetic, organic, traditional, and modern materials, challenging conventional notions of beauty and examining cultural mediation through skin. Kelliher-Combs has exhibited internationally and received numerous awards, including the United States Arts Fellowship. An advocate for Alaska Native arts, she resides and works in Anchorage, serving on several arts boards.
Drew Michael
Yup’ik & Inupiaq | Contemporary art and design
Bethel & Eagle River, Alaska
drewmichael.art
Drew Michael, of Yup’ik and Inupiaq descent, was born in Bethel, Alaska, and raised in Eagle River with his twin brother. He began carving at age 13, mentored by archaeologist Bob Shaw, printmaker Joe Senungetuk, and Athabascan mask-maker Kathleen Carlo. Developing his own style, Drew studied master carvers and refined his craft through diligent research and experimentation. His masks, rooted in Yup’ik traditions of storytelling and healing, also integrate elements of European Christian iconography, embodying a fusion that promotes balance and healing—mirroring his personal journey. Drew aims to inspire similar transformations in others through his artistic expression.
In Memoriam
Jenny Irene
Inupiaq | Photographer
Sitŋasuaq (Nome, Alaska)
jennyirenemiller.com
The Alaska Native Arts Foundation would like to honor the legacy of Jenny Irene (Iñupiaq), an extraordinary artist, dear friend, mentor, community advocate and treasured member of our steering committee.
Jenny’s work as a photographer created space for Alaska Native peoples to be seen and celebrated. Her intimate portraits of place, especially her homelands on the shores of the Bering Sea, beautifully recorded Alaska’s landscapes through an Indigenized lens. She generously shared her time with others, teaching youth photography classes and severing on numerous boards. Jenny’s legacy lives on through her enduring images and the energy she
shared.
