Andrew Gronholdt
| Andrew Gronholdt | |
|---|---|
Andrew Gronholdt holding a chxuusi-x
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| Born |
August 26, 1915 Sand Point, Alaska, Popof Island, United States |
| Died | March 13, 1998 (aged 82) Edmonds, Washington |
| Education | Self-taught |
| Known for | woodworking, chagudax-carving |
| Notable work | "Chagudax: A Small Window into the Life of an Aleut Bentwood Hat Carver" 2012 |
| Movement | Reviving Aleut Bentwood Hat Carving |
| Awards | Shareholder of the Year, Aleut Corporation, 1989 |
| Website | http://www.andrewgronholdt.com/ |
| Elected | Board of Directors, Shumagin Corporation, 1972-1974 Board of Directors of the Aleut Corporation, 1977-1998 |
| Patron(s) | Aleut Corporation, Shumagin Corporation, Anchorage International Airport, Anchorage Museum |
Andrew Gronholdt (26 August 1915 – 13 March 1998) was a famous Aleut from Sand Point, Alaska in the Shumagin Islands south of the lower Alaska Peninsula and became famous for rejuvenating the ancient Unangan art of carving hunting hats called chagudax. In January 2012, a book was published posthumously by Gronholdt titled "Chagudax: A Small Window into the Life of An Aleut Bentwood Hat Carver" Gronholdt's woodworking techniques, wood steaming and bending methods, and instructional design methodologies were legendary.
Andrew Gronholdt was born on August 26, 1915 in Sand Point on Popof Island in the Shumagin Islands. Gronholdt's father was Niels Peter Gronholdt from Kerteminde, Denmark. Gronholdt's mother is Anna Dushkin, who was from a tiny Aleut village on the southside of the Alaska Peninsula named Belkofski, about a dozen miles north east of King Cove, Alaska. The ancient Unangan people lived at Belkofski for thousands of years, but the community was closed about 1980 when everyone moved out, mostly to King Cove.
Andrew began attending elementary school in Belkofski and later completed grade school in Sand Point in the Shumagin Islands. Graduation from eighth grade at Sand Point School ended Gronholdt's formal education, but "his own desire to discover and explore schooled him for the rest of his life".
On January 21, 1942 at Unga, Gronholdt married Elisabeth Z. Rodgers, the daughter of Frank Rodgers and Zenia Lois Larsen. They had one child, born in Seward.
While living in Sand Point on Popof Island in the Shumagin Islands amongst the members of the Qagun Tayagungin Tribe, the Unga Tribe, and the Pauloff Harbor Tribe, Gronholdt designed chagudax (the ancient Unangan word for "hunting visor") in the Aleutians. Based upon the elaborate design of his maritime hunting ancestors, Gronholdt carved slabs of wood into thin blanks which he steamed and bent over molds to form the complex shapes of these ancient bentwood hats.
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Wikipedia