Glenda McKay

2013

Ronald and Susan Dubin Fellowship

Glenda McKay is Ingalik-Athabascan. She was born in Anchorage, Alaska, and was taught the skills she uses in doll making at an early age by her mother, grandmother, and aunts. Knowing how to embroider and bead; trap, snare, and tan hides; and gather fruit, roots, bark, and plants has served her well. McKay has a much-earned reputation for personally gathering all the materials for her creations and she is known for her intricate attention to detail. While at SAR, she proposes to use traditional materials to create a doll scene called “Basket Maker.”

Glenda McKay speaks about her artwork and creative process.

Her dolls take between three and nine months to create. McKay is proud of her Ingalik-Athabascan heritage and the dolls depict the lives, culture, and history of her ancestors. She is a passionate and articulate advocate for her culture.

“Shaman Talks” (2006) by Glenda McKay

Whale bone, polar bear fur, garnets, fossilized ivory, seal skin, beaver fur, porcupine quill, mammoth ivory, beads, and whale baleen. Photograph by Jennifer Day

Detail of “Shaman Talks” (2006) by Glenda McKay

Whale bone, polar bear fur, garnets, walrus ivory, seal skin, beaver fur, porcupine quill, mammoth ivory, beads, and whale baleen. Photograph by Jason S. Ordaz

Since 2006, McKay has shown professionally at major juried competitions, winning twenty-three ribbons in the past six years. Her work is in permanent museum collections, galleries, and private collections.