Mask - "Baby Raven" by Jerry Laktonen (Alutiiq)

Inspired by the traditional Tlingit legend of "How Raven Stole the Sun,"  Jerry Laktonen created his first Raven mask in the late 1990s. While noted for making full-sized masks, Jerry entitles this one "Baby Raven" to reflect its smaller size. One of his most popular designs, Jerry enjoys creating different variations, from the use of fiber-optic wire, to this one in which water fowl feathers frame the face that is carve of red cedar.

In the legend, Raven tricks a selfish chief who has the stars, moon and sun in boxes in his house, into opening the boxes, releasing them into the sky.  Trapped by the angry Chief in the house, Raven escaped through a smoke hole, turning himself black.  This Raven is carrying the sun, represented by a piece of amber, in his long beak.