2023 Ivalu Gala
VIP RECEPTION
5:30 p.m. | Hors d’oeuvres, Complimentary Champagne and Entertainment
DOORS OPEN
6:00 p.m. | Silent Auction, Mystery Bag Sales and Spin-to-Win wine tables
DINNER SERVICE
7:30 p.m. | Keynote address, Umialik Honorees, Performance, Live Auction and more!
Entertainment
AEF welcomes fashion designer Bobby Brower
Arctic Education Foundation is honored to welcome Iñupiaq seamstress and accomplished fashion designer Bobby Lynn Qalutaksraq Brower as its lead artist for the 2023 Ivalu Gala Inuit Fashion Show. Born and raised in Utqiaġvik, she is the designer and owner of Arctic Luxe, a fashion brand that creates, promotes and sells handmade indigenous clothing and accessories.
Brower’s remarkable talent has taken her to some of the world’s most prestigious design events – including New York Fashion Week – for which she was chosen out of thousands of applicants to showcase her eight contemporary style parkas to an international audience of millions of viewers. Her work has been shown at the Smithsonian National Museum of American Indian Art Show, Ivalu Gala, the Alaska Native Art Foundation, Nordic Soul Festival, the Anchorage Museum, Sealaska Heritage Center, Arctic Encounter Symposium, Santa Fe Indian Art Market and Trend Alaska Fashion Show – among others.
Through her work, and with the increasing visibility of Arctic Luxe, she hopes to inspire others to sew, create, learn traditional knowledge and pass it down to future generations.
Clara ‘Qaulluq’ Mcconnell
Qaulluq is an Iñupiaq artist and designer from Qikiqtaġruk (Kotzebue). She comes from a long line of traditional skin sewers, including her Aana Lena Suuyuk Hanna and great-great grandmother Lena Suuyuk Sours. She believes in the importance of living by Iñupiat Iḷitqusiat (traditional values) and the responsibility to pass on traditional knowledge by teaching others. Qaulluq is honored to pass down her knowledge taught by the matriarchs in her family going back many generations.
Danielle Rock
Danielle Rock, owner and designer of Coastal Rock Design, is an Iñupiaq seamstress born and raised in Kotzebue. As a little girl, she watched her late Aana Laura Smith create beautifully-made atikluks, mukluks and parkas. Rock began sewing in 2015 and knew she had found her passion for creating. Now residing in Point Hope with her family, she learned how to make traditional garments alongside her mother-in-law Ramona and other talented ladies in the community. She is known for her exquisite parkas and detailed qupak (decorative trim).
Andrea Nasuk Ahyakak
Born and raised in Utqiaġvik, she is the owner of Qupakti, which specializes in custom traditional and contemporary parkas and atikłuks. Ahyakak learned to sew from her mother and master seamstress – the late Regina Tuuqłak Kippi. Over the years, she has become an accomplished seamstress in her own right and creates unique custom pieces. She enjoys passing on this tradition and knowledge to the younger generation through hands-on classes and online seminars.
Sponsorship & Registration
The 2023 Ivalu Gala is sold out.
2023 Ivalu Honorees
Umialik Award
Flossie Hopson-Andersen Award
Brenda Itta-Lee
