The afternoon sun plays over the façade of the WCA Carving Facility Tuesday afternoon. The WCA recently received a $250,000 grant from the MJ Murdoch Charitable Trust to put towards the facility's completion.
A local carving facility and cultural center is a big step closer to completion.
The MJ Murdoch Charitable Trust awarded a $250,000 grant to the Wrangell Cooperative Association this week. That leaves about$100,000, or 35 percent of total cost of the building, remaining before the shed's cost is totally funded, said Tis Peterman, a grant writer and administrator with the WCA.
"We're really excited about it," she said.
The carving facility - known informally around town as the "carving shed," a description better suited to the utility building near Shakes Island currently used for some traditional artwork manufacturing - has been in the works for at least seven years. Local native organizations envision the new red-cedar-lined building along Front Street as more than a mere shed, Peterman said.
"One of the goals for the tribe for that carving facility is to hold classes in all things
cultural, whether it be carving, language, weaving, that type of thing," she said. "It'll also contain a retail store so that tribal members can actually sell artwork there for a small commission, a smaller commission than is asked elsewhere, so it's sort of like an economic development project as well."
The history of the long-running construction of the carving facility is inextricably tied to the refurbishment of Shakes Island, formally completed last year with a massive rededication ceremony. Informal plans to build a new facility and cultural center began in 2002. Formal planning for the project began with a committee formed in 2007, Peterman said.
Plans for the new facility actually pre-date the Shakes Island project, but were relegated to second on the list of
priorities once engineers
determined the degree of
deterioration at the Shakes Island tribal house, Peterman said.
"The original committee got together and they wanted a carving facility," she said. "It started out we were going to do the carving facility first and then do Shakes. But once we had engineers come in and take a look at it, it changed, the focus of the whole project changed because it (Shakes Island) was so badly deteriorated."
"We were down to 3 percent of the building," she added. "We didn't know the extent of the rot until we got in there."
The project can roughly be divided into three phases, with the Shakes Island renovations being the first phase, Peterman said. The second phase will be the completion of the carving shed, and the third phase will be the replacement or repair of existing totem poles, Peterman said.
"At least three have to be totally re-carved," she said. "That's going to be a huge expense."
Along with the material replacements, the totem replacement will include an educational and cultural element, Peterman said. The Association plans to have resident master carvers in place once the totems are refurbished or replaced to protect not just the past, but the future of
traditional carving in Wrangell, Peterman said.
"It'd be great if we could do it all at once," she said. "Of course, it probably won't happen that way."
This latest Murdoch grant is the second funding boost from the Trust the WCA has received, Peterman said. The Trust – which is dedicated to enhancing spiritual, cultural and educational causes in the Pacific Northwest – previously dedicated $225,000 toward the renovation of the Chief Shakes House.
While the building appears complete from the outside, a lot of internal work remains for project manager Todd White, Peterman said.
"What we're going to do – what's already been done – the heating system has already been ordered, and then our fire suppression system has been ordered as well," she said. "It's going to take about four or five months. I have a couple of
possible grantors that might take a look at it."
The grant will also be among the last tasks Peterman performs as an employee of the WCA. She's taking time off to pursue opportunities with her private company, Wrangell Research. While Peterman plans to step back, and the WCA plans to hire someone to replace her, she'll still be actively involved with plans going forward.
"I've worked for non-profits for most of my career," she said. "I just think it's time to get some fresh new blood in here."
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