eBay My World: rewisecarver( 157)

This site belongs to Noah Wisecarver but he uses it to sell handicrafts produced by his whole family. In the months to come you will see products by Wisecarvers,Charles, Johns,Kilongak, and Waskas. These are all members of our extended family.

Spirit Masks, snow goggles, baskets, dolls, knives, ulus, skin boots, beadwork, harpoon, atlatls, qayaq paddles made of wood, beads, antler, bone, walrus ivory, grass, fur, seal skin, and other materials.

books, DVD, music

English, German, Central Yupik

wood carving, ivory carving, metal work, subsistence hunting and fishing

Meatloaf, Willie Nelson

CSI, Antique Road Show

I am half Yupik Eskimo and was born in the far west of Alaska. My mother grew up in a sod house in the winter and a tent during the other seasons as her family traveled from camp to camp. I grew up in S.Central Alaska with parents from two cultures. My dad is a teacher and commercial fisherman. My Yupik relatives always came to visit and in our house they felt at ease because we ate a lot of Eskimo food and even my father prefered the Yupik lifestyle. Carving, basketry, bead and skin work were all normal part of our household atmosphere. Both my parents had Univ. educations as do I. I am a 2nd Ltn. in the Alaska National Guard. Five young men of our village just returned from tours of duty in Kuwait. We take pride in our service and my grandfather Kilongak served in the Eskimo Guard during WWII. I have be raised in the dual cultured world, but I am determined to take the best of both. The handicrafts that I produce are 2nd nature in our family and are just part of our life.

PayPal works best but we can accept money orders.

We normally ship priority mail by the first work day after we are paid. We pride ourselves in a quick turn around and good packing of our handicrafts. Except for Ivory and Baleen products we ship world wide.

If someone is unhappy with a product of ours, we will return the purchase price less the shipping and handling costs upon receipt in our hands of the undamaged item. We insure items over $75.00.

We can be reached at richardwisecarver@yahoo.com with any questions or requests. My father conducts much of the business because he is always home and I am always in a position to be deployed with the National Guard. Address: H.C. 31 Box 5263_C, 4700 W. Lucy Lake Rd., Wasilla, Alaska, 99654 Questions concerning the crafts of my five siblings, and relatives in Newtok will be answered quickly. We take this responsibility very seriously. We are happy to answer any questions about the Yupik lifestyle. Thanks

The Yupi world is one in transition. My mother lived in a semi-subterranean sod house in the winter and traveled from camp to camp in the summermonths. When she passed to the other world she had a univerity education. Many of my relatives still rely on hunting and fishing for most of their sustenence. Seals, Walrus, Moose, geese and cranes, all kinds of fish, berries and greens privide the food that fills our stomachs. We harvest our land with effeciency and great care to use everything. Little is wasted. Even the intestines and stomachs are used for raincoats and drum heads. Waste is considered wrong. Animals allow us to capture them only when they can see that we have shown them proper respect. Lazy hunters or careless wives are seen as disrespectful and animals avoid these people. When animals die they return to their own dimension where they live as we do, and from there they can observe us and see if we behave respectfully.

When I entered school, I found it confusing, because they were always telling me what to do. I could not concentrate on things I thought were important. My father and mother took me aside and expained that schools were a place where I would be told to learn what they wanted me to learn, but at home I would be expected to learn the Yupik way. That is I was taught to learn by careful observation of persons practicing those skills I wanted to learn. I was not expected to ask questions, but to anwer them myself by watching and trying out the new skills in my head several times. After that I was expected to try these skills out on my own. I learned to shot, carve, drive, survive in the wild, hunt and fish in this way. Skills were not forced on me and no one laughed at clumsy efforts. In fact I was praised even when my efforts failed. I knew that I would eventually succeed. Imagine being praised for borrowing the family car at 14 as my brother did, but to us he was only learning.