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A woman with a chisel: How an economist from Anadyr is preserving the art of Chukotka’s bone carvers

A woman with a chisel: How an economist from Anadyr is preserving the art of Chukotka’s bone carvers

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2026-10-23T10:00

2026-10-23T10:00

2026-10-23T10:00

people

chukotka autonomous area

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The Uelen Bone Carving Workshop is the largest center for the folk crafts of the Chukchi and Eskimo peoples. In 2026, it marks its 95thanniversary.Its history began in 1928–1929, when teacher Pyotr Skorik organized a children’s bone carving club at the Uelen school. The workshop for adults was officially established on November 14, 1931. Over the decades, a unique artistic school has taken shape here: master carvers practiced relief carving and engraving on walrus tusks, drawing inspiration from scenes of traditional hunting, daily life, and the mythology of Chukotka. Today, the workshop operates in a renovated building following a major renovation completed in 2025. The workshop houses an art museum, and nearby is a children’s art school where children can watch carvers and engravers at work.Since 2022, the workshop has been headed by Alexandra Nypevgi, daughter of the legendary Valery Nypevgi, who ran the workshop from 1987 to 2014. Alexandra is not only the director but also a practicing master carver and a prizewinner in Russian national competitions. This article tells the story of the unique path of a female carver at the edge of the world.“I have been breathing in the dust of the bone carving workshop since childhood”Alexandra Nypevgi spent much of her childhood in the bone carving workshop, where her father worked. She watched as the masters prepared and polished the walrus tusks obtained by hunters and then created wondrous scenes directly on them.But back then, Alexandra believed that bone carving was a strictly male domain. Her father did not teach her the craft: in Chukchi tradition, carving was done mostly by men, while women more often focused on engraving. Alexandra took a different path: she earned a degree in economics and took a job as an accountant for the district administration in Anadyr. She never even thought about picking up a carving tool back then.“That must have been my dad’s message”Everything changed in 2014, when her father passed away. On April 6, he wished Alexandra a happy birthday for the last time, and the next day she got a call: “Sasha, be strong.” Alexandra took the loss hard: the morning after hearing the news, she woke up with a streak of gray hair.“My father loved me very much. He pampered me my whole life, raised me, and brought me up. And when he was gone, of course, it was a huge tragedy for me, a shock,” she says with bitterness.Alexandra recalls that her father wanted her to leave her job with the administration and enter military service. But she never did. In the fall of that same year, Alexandra went to Anadyr Multidisciplinary College, hoping to enroll her brother, who had decided to follow in their father’s footsteps and continue his craft. Her brother was not accepted: he had only a ninth-grade education, while the college admitted students who had completed the 11th grade. Alexandra, however, already had a university degree. And then she was offered a chance to try her hand at carving.She agreed, sat down, and in four hours made three items: a harpoon, a bow, and the tip of an ice axe. The master was surprised: “Have you studied this? Did someone show you how to do it?” She answered: “No, I have never tried. I just watched other masters since I was a child.”“They told me then, ‘Sasha, you need to learn from the best,’” Alexandra recalls.At that moment, she says, it was a revelation. She realized that this was her path, one that connected her closely to her dad.“For me, it was a chance to somehow get closer to him, to try to reach him. When I am carving, my memories take me back to childhood. I find myself in a place where I always felt good, calm, and warm, next to my dad. That must have been his message,” she says with a sad smile.“I love depicting Chukotka’s nature”Alexandra did not hesitate for long: she left her job with the administration and, at 30, turned her life around completely. She made her first pair of crane earrings and a pendant three months later, and a year later she was already taking commissions. What students usually do in their third or fourth year, Alexandra mastered almost immediately. Today, 11 years later, she can sit at work for 10–12 hours, losing track of time.“I do not like repeating myself,” she says. “I do not like mass-producing things. I like variety.” One of her most complex works is “Dance of the Cranes”: a three-piece set consisting of a bracelet, a necklace, and earrings, featuring openwork carving inlaid with black cubic zirconia. For this work, she won bronze at the 9th International Bone Carving Art Competition and Festival, A Tale on a Mammoth Tusk in Kazakhstan in 2025 and was awarded a Yakut diamond as a prize.She does not depict roses. Her subjects are inspired by life in Chukotka itself. One work is called “In the Border Zone”: a reindeer sled team and border guards checking documents, all carved on a walrus tusk. Another work is “Everything for Victory”: yarangas, young men in traditional Chukchi clothing with backpacks, departing for the special military operation, a grandfather smoking a pipe, women in fur parkas.“I love depicting Chukotka’s nature,” she says. “Wildlife: whales, orcas, ringed seals, polar bears.”Asked about techniques and experimentation, Alexandra recalls an incident at the Soul of the North international bone carving art exhibition and competition. She painted an orca figurine black with just a marker, without any incisions, the way Belarusian masters do using the tattoo technique. The jury members were intrigued: “Sasha, tell us, what did you paint it with?” “Nail polish,” she replied with a smile. The work won a cash prize.Alexandra is one of the few female carvers, and she now heads a workshop with a staff of 12. The oldest master is 75 and he worked there when her father was in charge. The youngest is about 40.“The Uelen Workshop will find its way to you”In 2022, Alexandra was offered the position of head of the Uelen workshop. A couple of years earlier, fate brought her together with her father’s friend, a former colleague of his. He said something that proved prophetic:“Sasha, do not rush things. You will see, the workshop will find its way to you on its own.”She laughed it off at the time. “Well, who could have known? They made the offer, and I agreed right away, of course.”Alexandra speaks cautiously about the workshop’s future. Young people leave and do not return. This applies not only to bone carving but also to reindeer herding and marine mammal hunting.“If there are no young people, there will be no one to pass the experience on to,” she notes with regret.According to Alexandra, preserving the craft requires widespread state interest and regional support, as well as conditions that would allow young people to both study and earn a living. And yet she believes the workshop will endure. “It would be good if the bone carving workshop could last another 150 years,” Alexandra says with hope.“Anadyr today, Uelen tomorrow”As Alexandra herself admits, people often say she lives in the air: today in Anadyr, tomorrow in Uelen, the day after tomorrow in the village of Lavrentiya, with exhibitions and meetings in other cities in between. But the farther she travels, the stronger the pull to return.In her heart, she always returns to Uelen, to the place where she spent her childhood, where the air smelled of bone and shavings.“I find myself back in those wonderful days when I ran around free and happy. It is my home,” Alexandra reflects.

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2026

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