Anna “Angilian” Anvil is a Yup’ik tradition bearer.  She is a woman, whose life has spanned a pivotal time of change in the history of Yup’ik people.  Yet Anna Anvil has remained a role model, whose steadfast resolve to preserve the art of Yup’ik skin sewing is an inspiration?

Anna was raised in the traditional manner of the Yup’ik people.  As a child she was taught the art of skin sewing by her Grandmother Elena “Cikigaq” and her Mother Lucy Beaver.  In turn Anna became a teacher in her own right.  She is well known in the Yukon/Kuskokwim delta region for her fine sewing skills of parkas, mukluks, mittens, slippers, fur hats, dolls with doll parkas, Eskimo yo-yos, kuspaks, slippers, and grass weaved dance fans.  Anna Anvil can identify the design of a fancy parka and relate it directly to the family that the design originated from.  Anna has numerous orders for her art from people all over the world.  Even the Hollywood Film industry recognized Anna Anvil’s expertise and commissioned her work as a skin sewer and Yup’ik interpreter for “On Deadly Ground.”