DepartmentTextiles-United States & Canada
Nasqurrun (dance headdress)
NameHeaddress
Artist
Theo Bayou
CultureTsimshian/Yup’ik
Dateca. 2018
(not assigned)Metlakatla, Annette Islands, ALASKA, United States, North America
Mediumwolf, beaver, shell (abalone) buttons, glass beads, ribbon, cotton, elastic
Dimensions9 1/16 × 11 × 9 1/16 in. (23 × 28 × 23 cm)
Credit LineIFAF Collection
Object numberFA.2025.7.1
Collections
ProvenanceArtist consigned to Alaska Native Medical Center Craft Shop
Curatorial field purchase
DescriptionThis Yup’ik style headdress, or nasqurrun, is part of a dancer’s regalia. The artist, Theo Bayou, was raised part of her youth in Metlakatla, the only Native reservation in Alaska, yet she was not raised traditionally. Her father worked for the airline industry and so the family also lived elsewhere in the Northwest, away from her Alaska Native community. It was only as an adult, studying at Haskell Indian College in Lawrence, Kansas, that she learned about Indigenous dance and regalia. After graduating, she moved back to the island, married, started a family, and learned traditional dancing and singing along with her daughters. She joined David Boxley’s Tsimshian dance group as a singer in The 4th Generation Dancers. Making regalia such as this nasqurrun was part of her journey back to her culture.
