Helen Demitrous Andersson (“Qunuyuk”) was born in Kotzebue , Alaska , to Thomas and Rose Sours on Sept. 9 1958 —and raised by an adoptive family in the small village of Kiana on the Kobuk River , about 450 miles upriver, north of the Artic Circle .

 Qunuyuk is the great-granddaughter of Chief Attungowraq (the last chief of the Inupaiq Eskimo tribe) on the mother’s side -- and his great granddaughter on her fathers. Her paternal grandmother (Lena Sours Tureblood—nee young: renowned Inupiaq Eskimo skin-sewer) passed away in Kotzebue in 1993 at the age 110 (b.1883—d1993). Helen estimates she has at least 27 brothers, sisters and half-siblings living in various communities up and down the Kobuk River and scattered throughout Alaska interior. ( Here Greek first and middle manes are mementos of an immigrant Greek maternal grandfather she never met – an itinerant, traveling-circus sword-sallower and fire-eater; she inherited her married surname from her husband of over 20 years—an itinerant gambler from New York City.) Helen is now divorced and has reclaimed your maiden name of  Blastervold.

 Helen studied Metal smiting at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks in 1980; received her Welding Certificate (with Honors) in Kiana that same year—and studied Automotive Mechanics and Charcoal Drawing at the University of Hawaii in Hilo. She also studied Basic Composition and oil painting under Russian artists Jackson and Lydia Branoff, in Anchorage, Alaska in 1993.

Helen'sPen-and-ink portrait of George Attla ("Spirit of the Wind") won overall First Place in Stephan Fine Art Gallery's 1884 Alaska Silver Anniversary Juried Art Show. This portrait was also chosen by Lew Freedman for the cover of his biography of George Attla., The Legend of the Sled Dog Trail (Stockpole Books, 1993).  Helen's Oil painting "Two Cushions", Made the front cover of the January 2000 issue of the American Guest magazine. Most of Helens other works have been displayed in the Anchorage Museum of History and Arts Annual Juried Art Shows and the Alaska Native Heritage Center throughout the years.