Edna Wilder’s Followers (1)

Edna Wilder

Born

in Bluff, Alaska, The United States

March 25, 1916

Died

December 13, 2011

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Edna was born March 25, 1916, to Arthur and Minnie Tucker in Bluff, a small mining community on the Seward Peninsula.

Her father came from England and entered the North by way of the Chilkoot Pass during the Gold Rush stampede in 1898. Her mother was an Inupiaq Eskimo.

Her father provided for her education by obtaining books and correspondence classes from England. Much of Edna's time as a young girl was spent learning to provide food for the family by hunting, fishing, and gold mining with her father. She became a keen observer of nature during the hours she spent roaming the tundra.

Edna married her first husband, Dan Wilder, in Nome in 1941, and they moved to Fairbanks in 1942, where Dan was a draftsman for the Geophysical Institute at the Edna was born March 25, 1916, to Arthur and Minnie Tucker in Bluff, a small mining community on the Seward Peninsula.

Her father came from England and entered the North by way of the Chilkoot Pass during the Gold Rush stampede in 1898. Her mother was an Inupiaq Eskimo.

Her father provided for her education by obtaining books and correspondence classes from England. Much of Edna's time as a young girl was spent learning to provide food for the family by hunting, fishing, and gold mining with her father. She became a keen observer of nature during the hours she spent roaming the tundra.

Edna married her first husband, Dan Wilder, in Nome in 1941, and they moved to Fairbanks in 1942, where Dan was a draftsman for the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska. They raised their two sons, Arthur and Robert, in Fairbanks. Edna supplemented the family income by fur sewing which she learned from her mother.

Their family friend and neighbor was Ted Lambert, a well-known Alaskan artist. When she expressed an interest in his work, he extended an invitation to Edna to observe him painting. This time proved to be well spent, and Edna found herself drawing on her childhood observations of nature for material and her artistic career began.

She continued to expand her career with the addition of sculpting in wood and soapstone. In May 1967, Edna was a performing artist in The Art in Action program in the Alaska-67 Centennial Celebration at Alaskaland - now Pioneer Park - in Fairbanks.

The Fairbanks flood in 1967 presented many challenges for Edna. Her longtime home in Fairbanks was destroyed, and a new home needed to be built before winter. She lost her husband, Dan, to cancer within a few months. Her artwork became a means of making a living.

In 1970, she was invited to become the first Native instructor in the Art of Skin Sewing class at the University of Alaska. She did not feel there was an adequate textbook to cover the material she presented, so she wrote her first book entitled Secrets of Eskimo Skin Sewing.

In 1979, she married Alexander Cryan, who was her loving companion for the rest of her life. No longer needing to work full time as an artist, she began focusing on her writing.

During her time at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, she also took classes in journalism. Remembering the advice of her journalism instructors, especially Jimmy Bedford, she drew from her own background to write about her mother's lifetime, Once Upon An Eskimo Time and The Eskimo Girl and the Englishman.

(from http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/news...) ...more

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Average rating: 4.24 · 104 ratings · 29 reviews · 5 distinct works • Similar authors

	Once upon an Eskimo Time by Edna Wilder, Dorothy Mayhew (Illustrations) 4.08 avg rating — 60 ratings — published 1986 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Secrets of Eskimo Skin Sewing 4.64 avg rating — 28 ratings — published 1976 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Eskimo Girl and the Englishman 4.13 avg rating — 16 ratings — published 2008 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Once Upon an Eskimo Time, a Year of Eskimo life Before the White Man came as Told to Me By My Wonderful mother Whose Eskimo name Was Nedercook by Edna Wilder, b/w Drawings (Illustrator) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Secrets of Eskimo skin sewing by Edna Wilder, Unknown Author 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Edna Wilder’s Followers (1)

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