A local Petersburg artist illustrated two children's book with ancient stories from the Tlingit and Haida native tribes, and the goal in her work is to connect people with symbols, shapes and patterns.

Janine Gibbons illustrated "The Woman Who Married the Bear" and "The Woman Carried Away by Killers," two oral traditions of the respective native tribes.

"You, as an American citizen, should know more about symbols and shapes and patterns," Gibbons said. "And repetitions of shape, and patterns through symbols."

Gibbons, a photographer, jewelry designer, Petersburg School Board member and a...