Barbara Ilatkaq Joan Apangalook grew up in Gambell, Alaska on St. Lawrence Island. The island is located in the Bering Sea by Northwest Alaska, 37 miles from the Chukotski Peninsula of Siberia, where the same Siberian Yupik language is spoken.  She is Siberian Yupik Eskimo and Tlingit Indian. Gambell was mainly a subsistence lifestyle while growing up. The artwork medium was readily available and used mainly functionally. Her grandmother, Lilly Apangalook and mother, Mildred Apangalook first taught her the art of sewing around the age of eight. Barbara uses sealskin, polar bear fur, beadwork, ivory, whalebone, and mixed media to create her one of a kind carvings and sewn artworks. Although it has been several years since she moved from Gambell, her roots are still very much a part of her. Barbara has always appreciated our rich subsistence and cultural lifestyle, if not more so now. "I attribute my interest and love of Native crafts to my mother and father, grandmother and the close-knit community of Gambell, where to exist and to observe and learn. Today, the Siberian Yupik people are acknowledged for their distinguished artistic talent, for which I am proud and grateful to be a part of."