Hank Small Baleen Basket with Polar Bear

Hand-woven and intricately carved by Inupiaq artist Harry Hank, this Small Baleen Basket is adorned with a unique polar bear finial, made of ivory. Expertly crafted in Barrow, Alaska, this basket is a work of art that honors the traditional techniques and skills of the Inupiaq people.

Weaving baleen baskets runs in Hank's family: his mother Marilyn Hank and his grandparents, Carl and Eunice Hank were all weavers. Most baleen weavers come from either Pt. Hope or Barrow, where bowhead whale hunting has been a tradition since the 1920’s, when the first baskets were made from this material.

Baleen baskets are a highly-prized and skillful art form of Northern Alaskan Inupiat Eskimos. Baleen is a flexible material from the inside of the bowhead whale, who uses a filter system (bowhead whales don't have teeth) to help process plankton and small fish. Baleen baskets are woven with thin strips of baleen in a method called coiling that sews baleen bands together, ending with a beautifully carved ivory finial as the basket lid handle