Bear Bread Studio

Hannah Gordon is the creative force behind Bear Bread Studio, located in Kodiak, Alaska. Hannah, a native of Nebraska, first traveled to Alaska right after high school, where she worked with children as a volunteer through a local mission for the summer. Hannah returned to Alaska multiple times over the next several summers, having fallen in love with the people and the place. After finishing college, she moved to Alaska to work with the underprivileged and at-risk as a Social Worker. Hannah started Bear Bread Studio while living and working in the small town of Ouzinkie, on the remote Spruce Island, off the coast of Kodiak.

I recently caught up with Hannah over video chat and asked her a few questions:

What do you do for work?

I have a Master’s Degree in Social Work and currently am a grant writer for KANA (Kodiak Area Native Association)

What do you do to for hobbies?

Hiking, climbing mountains, gill netting, making jewelry and art from natural materials.

What is your creative outlet?

Making jewelry and art from objects that I collect in nature. Apart from jewelry, I really enjoy collecting bear bread from the forests here on Kodiak and Spruce Island and carving them with a wood burner.

***Side Note:*** Bear Bread, is a fungus or mycelium that grows on the outside of living and dead trees. It forms “fruiting bodies” that are up to 12–39 in across. Woody in texture, hard as leather, and inedible in raw form. A unique characteristic of this fungus is that when the fresh white surface is rubbed, scratched, or burned, the dark brown underlayer is revealed, resulting in lines and shading that become permanent once the fungus is dried.

What fuels your desire to create?

Making items that are fun. I don’t really like making necklaces all that much, I make more earrings because they are fun for me, what I enjoy guides and fuels what I create. I also really like seeing the finished product, that moment when it all comes together and you know you have made something beautiful.

What is your favorite medium?

For my jewelry making it is: Shells, Sea Glass, and Pumice. I love the natural products and that they get me outdoors. I have started to love beads recently too, and incorporate a few into some of my pieces. I like to go to bead shops when I travel, to search for just the right beads for my jewelry. I bought a few recently that remind me of wild blueberries.

How did you get started?

I know exactly when I got started. I was in Ouzinkie, walking on the beach in November with a friend who was collecting beach glass. I didn’t like beach combing then, because you pick up all this stuff and it sits around in your house until you throw it away. So I sat on a log waiting for her, and was spacing out looking at a muscle shell on the rocks. And I thought to myself, “You could put a little pearl in there, and make an earring.” And then “I could do that for Christmas gifts.” As my finances and access to supplies were limit then, it was a great way to make something personal for my family. So I did, and then I just kept making them. As I have practiced my craft I have refined my skill set, and my style, and expanded my material and my designs.

What is your process/what do you do with your finished product?

I find shells, beach glass, and pumice on the beach, I clean them, boil and bleach, drill them, apply spray enamel, and then assemble. For beaded pieces, as I said, I search out unusual beads from places that I travel. My finished products have been for sale at Kodiak cruise ship bazaars, holiday bazaars, and are currently available at the Kodiak Alutiiq Museum and online at Etsy.

What kind of creative space do you have?

I make my jewelry wherever I am. I don’t have a dedicated space.