This year the Rasmuson Foundation has presented a Wrangellite with an $18,000 fellowship for literary arts. Vivian Prescott, currently of Sitka, received the award in order to conduct research and complete a poetry manuscript.
“It’s about migration and living among Alaska Native peoples,” she explained.
Born and raised in Wrangell, her family can be traced back on the island for five generations. Prescott’s upcoming work relates the worldviews of her Saami and Finnish heritage to the landscape of Southeastern Alaska, and explores how those worldviews relate with her family intermarrying among the Tlingit.
For her research, Prescott will reside at her family’s fishcamp on Wrangell Island near Red Alder Head Village, or Ḵeishangita.aan. There she will explore the island’s history and her relationship to the landscape, which includes the Saami, an Finno-Urgric people who migrated to Alaska.
“I come from many generations of storytellers,” Prescott explained in a release. “Poetry is the medium I chose to tell our stories. Poetry as story classifies my poetry as narrative. My poetry creates a juxtaposition between reality and imaginary — women in my poems transform into reindeer and wolves walk like men.”
She has a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Alaska and a Ph.D. in cross-cultural studies. Prescott is the author of a full-length poetry collection, The Hide of My Tongue, two poetry chapbooks, Slick and Sludge, and a forthcoming story collection called The Dead Go to Seattle.
The manuscript will be in a different style than Prescott’s previous collection, more lyrical than narrative. She said the finished work will likely be in the form of a long poem or else interconnected poetry.
Rasmuson’s Individual Artist Awards were launched in December 2003, as a multi-year initiative to make a significant investment into the state’s various arts and cultural resources. The Foundation explains on its site the initiative prioritizes “support to practicing artists themselves as a key strategy to ensure Alaska enjoys a vibrant art and culture community.”
The purpose of the awards is to allow artists to seek a variety of creative opportunities, including providing them with the time necessary to focus on creative work. In its 12 years the program has awarded 373 grants to Alaska artists, totaling more than $3.1 million.
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