Sep 1, 2013 | Adventures of Rear-Mirror Rissy, Honoring Others |
Two favorite books of late: “The Boreal Gourmet” by Michelle Genest and “The Boreal Herbal by Beverly Gray (notice “Spider Woman’s Bogs”)
“The Boreal Gourmet” – Adventures in Northern Cooking is a fabulous book for anyone living in the North like Yukon and Alaska. “Hilarious, big-hearted writing about food gathering and cooking adventures on Canada’s boreal frontier, Michele Genest mixes her experience of international cuisine with big love for local ingredients to create receipes that make you want to pull on gumboots and head north. This book is truly Yukon Gold!” – Margaret Webb, author of Apples to Oysters
“The Boreal Herbal”: wild food and medicine plants of the North is an indispensable guide to identifying and using northern plants for food and medicine. With the Boreal Herbal you will learn how to soothe pain with willow, staunch bleeding with yarrow, treat a urinary-tract infection with bearberry, and create a delicate and uplifting skin cream from sweetgrass. Also included are dozens of healty and delicious recipes, including Wild-weed Spanakopita, Dandelion Wine, and Cranberry-mint Muffins.”
I use both books as cross-references. For the past 10+ years, ever since I canned apricots and blackberries in my portable outdoor kitchen directly after my classes at Pilchuck School of Glass, I have had the notion that I will spend 4 to 6 months harvesting food starting up in Yukon and working my way down through Southeast Alaska, British Columbia and Washington State, Oregon, Montana, California, etc. then head back to Colorado to spend the Winters with my loot of foods put up for winter; every time I pull out a jar of smoked salmon, or dried apricots, or fix a cup of Labrador tea, I have the memories and joyful feelings of harvesting the bounty from the land and sea. This type of experience, in my opinion, is a wholistic way of life. Our spirituality, mentality and physical bodies are experienced as one; no separation. I discovered that Michele and her husband Hector (amongst many other Yukonians), do this type of journey every Summer. I intend on doing this too, soon. Real soon. And in conjunction with teaching Chilkat weaving wherever I am.
Michelle serving up sourdough pancakes with low-bush cranberries; her husband Hector (in the white hat) converses with a “customer”
While in Atlin, B.C. during their annual music festival, I took a jaunt on foot around town and while heading back to our weavers’ demo tent, I saw a crowd of people standing around a long table set up on the side of a road. They were all chomping down happily and talking while they ate, obviously enthusiastic about what they were eating. So I walked over to them and noticed hand-made mushroom raviolis and cranberry pancakes being served. I said: “hey, cool,…what’s going on…is there some kind of celebration?” And immediately the woman responded: “oh, hello, Clarissa…how’s it going…good to see you again!” It was Michele Genest. I had met her a month prior on the MV Matanuska ferry heading to Skagway. She was checking out our weaving looms on board – and I remember her saying she wasn’t much of an artist except that she was an avid cook and a writer. ——- It’s a small world.
Aug 26, 2013 | Latest Art Projects, Tlingit Culture Accentuated |
A Chilkat face: when we finish the eyebrows, the weaving can “express” how it feels…
Besides the clan emblem or the story a Chilkat robe image has to convey, I experience the emotional/spiritual aspect of the robe itself. Every robe I’ve woven gifts me with a different experience that transcends just the technical aspects of weaving.
Two years ago I finished the “Jennie Weaves and Apprentice” Chilkat robe. During the four years the robe was on my loom, the weaving of this robe “held me up” and “saved my life” during a very rough length of time; I was actually able to weather some big “storms.” This year I completed the “Diving Whale Lovebirds” Chilkat robe; after nearly 30 years of weaving, I finally felt like I actually KNEW what I was doing. I didn’t really have to think about weaving (and as some of you know how to weave, this type of weaving requires a lot of thinking!). My total time on the robe was 6 months! I remember Jennie saying that she could weave a full-size, full-design Chilkat robe in 6 months and that was hard for me to believe. Over the years, I have come to believe many of the things she said. She gave me many gifts.
A Chilkat Face: When we finish the eyes, the robe can see into our world…
This child-size Chilkat robe that I am presently weaving is my robe of gratitude; a time of giving thanks for this gift of learning Chilkat and sharing Chilkat, a time of appreciation for all the folks who, especially during this weavers’ tour and especially the past 5 years of my life, have been there in whatever time and shape. I hold this robe with affection as if it is a grandchild; very close as as I know the very thing that provides me the happiness also has the other side of the coin, and some day it shall “fly away” and not be in the same position I had become accustomed to know. This Chilkat robe is my time of experimentation, a time of expanding into things I have not normally done, whether it be reflected in the weaving, reflected in a thought pattern or behavior. I look forward to my internal world expanding, ever eternal as we all are…
Stay tuned to see the progress of this robe. Thank you for making the time to be a part of my life via visiting my blog! Gunal’cheesh!
A Chilkat Face: when we complete the nose, the weaving can smell everything about you and your world – and when the mouth is completed the weaving can communicate with you…
A Chilkat Face: …and when Clarissa starts re-drawing her Chilkat robe design, uh oh, watch out…she might take another 10 years before she is happy with the image…!
Aug 23, 2013 | Adventures of Rear-Mirror Rissy, Class Act, North Tide, Tlingit Culture Accentuated |
L to R: Clarissa Rizal, Teahonna James, Vanessa Morgan, Crystal Rogers, and local beginner weaver Stefanie Sidney from Whitehorse
Last Summer/Fall 2012, three apprentices learned a bit of weaving in my studio in Colorado: Vanessa Morgan from Kincolith, Nass River B.C., Crystal Rogers from Juneau, Alaska, and Teahonna James from Durango, Colorado, her family originally from Klawock, Alaska. We talked about meeting up again; this time we’d meet in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory beginning with the Adaka Festival mid-June 2013 – (click here to see blog entry on the Adaka Festival). During the festival, there is a Northwest Coast Native Art Exhibit that is shown only during the length of the one-week festival (click here to see parts of the exhibit). Included in the exhibit were two Ravenstail robes, a child-size 4-piece Ravenstail dance ensemble and one Chilkat robe. These woven ceremonial regalia were part of the “Weavers’ Dance” (click here to see this blog entry).
The purpose of our weaving tour: to recognize, acknowledge and support local weavers of the community, share our knowledge with local weavers of all experience levels within the community, inspire and secure the next generations of weavers, create a network of weavers wherever they live, educate the general public about Chilkat weaving, and to simply weave together!
Two maps and a calendar grace the walls above Clarissa’s loom in the Weavers’ apartment; one is a map of the Northwest Coast and the other a map of Yukon Territory – please take notice of the “money” chair; this particular sits on a her money! heeeeeheeeee!
We financed this tour out of our own individual pockets; no funding came from elsewhere. We did this tour because we were inspired to weave, travel and because we knew there were other weavers out there who wanted our support and wanted us to come visit. We started our weaving tour in Whitehorse, Yukon during the Adaka Festival weaving class taught by Ann and myself (click here to see photos and story); we rented a Yukon College campus two-bedroom, fully-furnished apartment for the four of us; each splitting the rent and each bringing a mound of food – though Crystal and Teahonna brought more pots and pans and spices and cooking utensils.
Table and floor looms, along with spinning warp supplies and a sewing machine to sew up spinning pads, define this particular space as a weaver’s nest!
We took turns cooking meals and keeping the place half-way decent; but we mostly wove on our projects. I gave instruction now and then when needed, and we each set our own hours. There was a drawback for most of us: no cell phone service (though my Verizon service was excellent), however, we were lucky that we had occasional internet service.
Crystal Rogers puts in the braids for her eyebrows of her child-size Chilkat robe
During our almost 4-week “residency” in Whitehorse, we invited any of the beginning students from the Chilkat and Ravenstail weaving class taught by Ann Smith and myself, held at the Adaka Festival to come on by and weave with us (you may check out the weaving class blog entry by clicking here.) Alas, only two local women showed up. The others were busy fishing, berry-picking, etc. – we cannot blame them; they were doing the important stuff like putting up food for winter!
Teahonna spins Chilkat warp
During our month in Whitehorse, we used this apartment as our home base as we took a weekend trip to the Atlin Music Festival in Atlin, B.C., just a 2-hour drive from Whitehorse. We were invited by Louise Gordon, a member of the Wolf Clan, to her hometown of Atlin, to demonstrate Chilkat and Ravenstail weaving during the Atlin Music Festival, July 12-14. Check out the blog entry on our weekend jaunt to Atlin by clicking here.
Teahonna splits cedar bark
At the end of our stay in our “luxury” on campus apartment in Whitehorse, we attended Teslin’s “Kus Te Yea – Celebration 2013” event held July 26-28. Again we were invited to demonstrate weaving during this wonderful 3-day event. Check out the blog entry of our own “weaving cabin” during Teslin’s Celebration by clicking here.
The washed warp is tightly-stretched around the back of a wooden chair to dry
Directly after Teslin’s Celebration, we drove down to Skagway and caught the ferry to Haines, Alaska where we were hosted by Lee Heinmiller at the Alaska Indian Arts and we demonstrated weaving at the Sheldon Museum July 30-August 1st. Check out the blog entry of our visit at the Sheldon Museum in Haines by clicking here.
Click here to read the poem Wayne Price wrote in honor of our mentor, the late Jennie Thlunaut and in honor of our dedication to the preservation and perpetuation of Chilkat weaving
Our weaving tour did not quite “end” in Haines; even now I cannot say that our tour has ended – it’s an on-going adventure. Vanessa was called home to help with her daughter’s birth of a child (and she will host Crystal who is intending to visit Vanessa and the Nass River for the first time); by ferry, Crystal headed to Prince Rupert, B.C. to meet up with weaver Megan O’Brien; Teahonna ferried to Klawock, Alaska to attend the Klawock Totem Raising, attend a family reunion and met up with weaver Suzi Williams; and I have done and am doing a number of things (i.e. a student during the Jineit Academy’s artist-in-the-schools teacher’s training Aug. 5-9, (click here to read the blog entry on the artists and teachers); picked lots of nagoon berries (click here to see those wonderful berries); hung out with grandchildren and my daughter; a part-time clerk at friend Jan Parrish’s Aurora Healing store located one door up North Franklin Street from Hearthside Books in downtown Juneau (click here for link to Jan’s Alaskana Botanicals); and, helped Juneau weaver Catrina Mitchell start her Ravenstail weavings (you may click here to read that blog entry.)
Vanessa weaves her eyelids
Next? We are then planning a tentative journey to the Toadlena Trading Post in the Chuska Mountains about 30 miles southwest of Shiprock, New Mexico. For over 10 years, Mark Winter, Navajo rug “expert” hosts the Navajo weavers’ “Spinning and Carding Day” the third weekend in September. This is the one day of the year where most if not all of the Navajo weavers in the Two Grey Hills area gather together and begin to prepare the wool for the following winter’s weaving projects. (Click here to find out more info on the Toadlena Trading Post.)
In previous visits on this day, when we have shared our cross-cultural weaving knowledge, we learned that the Navajo and Chilkat weavers had something in common: we use the same type tool to spin our weft yarns called the “drop spindle.” We do not use the small drop spindle, we use the longer one where the post of the drop spindle measures from our knee to the floor. So to enable us to eventually spin our own weft yarns of mountain goat, we want to learn from the Navajo weavers how to use this particular drop spindle. We are excited to learn this from another indigenous tribe, whose sense of humor is much like ours.
An outline on the white board enables each of us to help reach our goals – down below there is a drawing of how to weave the perfect circle…
Where will be weaving this Winter? Well, we will spend the Fall in Colorado because it is beautiful, and come Winter, well…that’s still yet to be determined. Maybe we “Alaska Girls” (as the Canadians call us), will go to Mexico and do a cross-cultural exchange there to learn about dyeing weft yarns, or meet up with the Maori weavers and share weaving techniques. The “book” is wide open. Who knows where we will really be in the next month!
Sometimes we shuffle from one “work station” to another – (i.e. weaving loom, to splitting warp or wool, to spinning warp, to baking bread to making dinner, to hanging out on the deck, etc.)
If you are interested in sponsoring us in your community, contact any one of us, and let’s go from there. Our tentative plans for next Summer are: directly after Celebration 2014 (June 11-13) in Juneau, Alaska, we will head up to Whitehorse for the annual “Adaka Festival – A celebration of Yukon’s diverse and distinctive First Nation’s arts and culture” where we hope to teach another Chilkat/Ravenstail weaving class during the week.
Vanessa, Clarissa and Ann
After Yukon, we will head to the coast of British Columbia to the towns of Terrace, Kincollith on the Nass, Prince Rupert, Alert Bay, Masset and Haida Gwaii. We want to network and work with weavers of these communities. We would like to spend at least 3 days up to a week at each community. Our intentions are the same as above: to recognize, acknowledge and support local weavers of the community, share our knowledge with local weavers of all experience levels within the community, secure the next generations of weavers, create a network of weavers, bring Chilkat weaving appreciation to the general public, and to simply weave together!
We noticed that sunsets in Whitehorse in the peak of Summer take about hours to set, but not really cuz the sun just swings itself back up into the sky, so what do weavers do on their breaks? They take photographs of lingering sunsets!
We will be looking for funding sources to assist with our travel expenses (gas, food, lodging, ferry fare). If you would like to assist in whatever way you know you can help, please contact either one of us (Stefanie, Crystal, Vanessa, Teahonna, Clarissa). We appreciate your assistance!
Ann instructs Teahonna on the next technique…
Weavers burn a lot of calories – thinking takes a lot of energy, so one of the things that is very important to us is that we eat well…here we see the sponge-method bread rising in a bowl and salad makings off to one side to go along with our salmon frying on the stove. oh yum, when we were done with our tour, did we gain weight or what!?
Having a sunny deck helps “get us out of the house” while we are still working – here Vanessa spins the warp for her child-size robe’s side braids….
Local Whitehorse beginner weaver, Stefanie receives help from both sides, Vanessa and Crystal
Securing our next generation of weavers: Crystal Rogers, Lily Hope, Stefanie Sidney
Aug 20, 2013 | Adventures of Rear-Mirror Rissy, North Tide |
Check out the hands of real berry-pickers!
Earlier this year, I made up my mind that I was going to pick berries – whatever it took, wherever I was, whatever weather! And luckily for us up here in the north, this Summer has been one of the best in recorded memory! I picked soap berries in Whitehorse, Huckleberries in Haines, nagoon berries in Juneau and raspberries and blueberries in Hoonah! I make my fortune by making myself fortunate in taking advantage of the fruits of our land — golly, and imagine all the berries that are out there that never get picked!
Wayne and Cherri Price, Teahonna James and Clarissa Rizal enjoyed an afternoon of picking huckleberries up a mountain on the other side of the Chilkat River in Haines, Alaska
Always pick berries with friends and relatives. Never go alone. Remember: we have bears who feast on berries just like we do at this time of year. Even though we see them as relatives, bears are much bigger and stronger than us and therefore, we must respect them, right? Right.
Tim Ackerman always comes prepared with his chainsaw in the back of the truck; never know when you’ll come across a fallen tree on the narrow dirt road to the mountainside berry patches. Wayne Price helps set aside the logs (that will eventually become somebody’s firewood).
Soapberries are named according to the high amount of saponin content — the chemical compound that makes the berries foam up when whipped or shaken with water.
We do not have soap berries in Southeast Alaska, so I never picked them. I remember my grandmother and mother would receive a precious jar of soapberries during a potlatch; it was always a prized possession. In fact, so prized that I was given a tiny jar of soapberries from a potlatch that I attended about 5 years ago – I still have it; never opened. I told myself that I would never open it until I meet the soapberry and pick ’em myself – I had this chance back in July – I picked all I could in a short amount of time and hand-carried it on a plane to my friend in Hoonah in honor of her mother who had recently passed.
Vanessa Morgan picking soapberries along the woodland path outside of our campus apartment in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory
Nagoon berries are the bestest berry in the world! They grow in open boggy fields in the northern part of Southeast Alaska — nagoon berry pickers do not let out where their special patches of berries are located – if so, then you must be someone very very very special – so take heed to those three people to whom I let my secret!
The “cloud berries” of Yukon, if I am not mistaken, seem to be a relative of the Nagoon, but do not quote me on this. These berries are generally the last berry to harvest, ripening in mid to late August. However, the berries are all in a bumper crop this year which of course puts stress on us berry pickers. The raspberries, nagoons, blueberries, and thimble berries are all ripe at the same time!
Washed and cleaned Nagoon berries hold their shape
The fragrance of the nagoon is like nothing else, just like its flavor. If you’ve never had nagoon, if you’ve never even picked a fresh nagoon from it’s habitat and popped it into your mouth, you have not yet lived!
Two 2-qt buckets were filled in 3 hours during hot muggy weather
What do we do after an afternoon in the nagoon-berry bogs? Wash up in a river beach!
Aug 19, 2013 | Class Act, Honoring Others, Tlingit Culture Accentuated |
Catrina Mitchell from Juneau, Alaska winds the skein of weft onto the ball winder to create a ball of weft – working from a ball of weft is much easier to draw the yarn from than the skein…
A student of Ravenstail and Chilkat, Catrina Mitchell knows what she wants to do in the evenings and on the weekends this Fall and Winter into Spring: Ravenstail weaving! We’re excited! Am I going to reveal WHAT she is weaving, for WHO and WHEN she wants it done? NO. Hello…That’s a secret! It’s enough to know she is one of several women on a mission to complete her weaving(s) by Celebration 2014 next year. — For those of you who haven’t gotten started on your weaving; what are you waiting for? Winter is coming! Let’s get on the ball and have fun! And let’s join for a Weavers’ dance and song next year!
Catrina has warped up her loom (or “dressed” her loom) – She wove her first row (called the “anchoring row”) and before she weaves her first 5 rows of white, she is now double-checking the length of each warp end making sure they are all the same length
Catrina is happy to remember how to do Jennie Thlunaut’s fingering for speed, accuracy, tension and most of all: GRACE!
A perfect Weaver’s Tote! Each compartment has a purpose of its own – four distinct places for the four colors: black, white, yellow, blue – compartments for pen and small spiral-bound notebook – compartment for scissors, large-eye tapestry needles, cotton twine/sinew, and then some!
Aug 18, 2013 | Adventures of Rear-Mirror Rissy, Honoring Others, North Tide, Tlingit Culture Accentuated |
The making of the traditional dugout canoe at Cherri and Wayne Price’s porch in Haines, Alaska
How many of you know, or know of, the carver/silversmith/boat builder/hunter Wayne Price? Do you know where he lives? Have you ever taken a class from him? Have you met his wife, Cherri? Or met any of his friends or students or family? It’s time to meet him.
The Price House is always hopping with visitors coming and going – I’m not sure how Wayne gets his work done! And both he and Cherri are always accommodating; they generally drop what they are doing and will converse with you. (They sound like the way I am but I am trying not to be that way to the degree I was else I cannot get my work done!) Here they share their dry fish with Crystal Rogers, Jim Simard and Teahonna James
The Price House: …so I like to help them out in whatever way I can…in this instance, when I caught Wayne and Cherri talking about loading the firewood into the basement, I immediately volunteered the weavers Crystal and Teahonna and Lance Twitchell’s brother to help out…! The community has got to be reminded now and then to “give back” to Wayne and Cherri and it starts with each and every one of us who have benefited from their hospitality !
The Price House: Meagan Jensen looks over Teahonna James weaving the closure of her circle.
The Price House: William Wasden, from Alert Bay, B.C., sings songs from his neck of the woods, while Wayne tends to the fire, the weavers weave and the rest of us listen, watch and take in the scene!
Read more about Wayne and Cherri Price on their website; click here to the link. And when you are in Haines, stop by and say hello – let him know I sent ya!
Aug 18, 2013 | Honoring Others, North Tide, Poetry Alaskan, Relationship Overdrive, Tlingit Culture Accentuated |
Jennie Thlunaut’s hands weaving closing up the black braids to the eye – May 1986
As we weave the fabric of our lives, working hard through all the days
Mixing colors into twine, cedar too for warp that’s mine
Our hands do hurt but I won’t complain; my students here I’m going to train
To be a weaver of the robe, that people know over all the globe
Our work we do for time will stand, side by side from my ancestor’s land
Their hands I see when I close my eyes; heads of grey, hands wrinkled and wise
Their training I feel all through these days, now I pass it on in so many ways
What I teach I hope and pray, they will learn and weave will stay
Long past my last earth day
My Grandchildren’s Grandchildren I hope will say
This robe I weave is from my land, taught to me by someone Grand
Our story goes on and we prevail; I’m here to tell you a weaver’s tale.
Written by Wayne Price in honor of our weaving tour visit in Haines, Alaska three weeks prior and in memory of our weaving mentor, the late Jennie Thlunaut – written 18 August 2013
Wayne Price wears the “Diving Whale Lovebirds” Chilkat robe recently woven by Clarissa Rizal – June 2013 – weavers Cherish Clarke, Sherri Atlin, and Georgianna Low are standing behind Clarissa and Wayne at the Adaka Festival photo shoot – photo by Ken Kaunshansky
Aug 10, 2013 | Adventures of Rear-Mirror Rissy, Class Act, Ravens & Eagles, Tlingit Culture Accentuated |
R to L: Darlene See (Hoonah), Alison Bremner (Yakutat) and Joe James (Angoon) review classroom kits designed to teach K-5 students to recognize the interpretation of Tlingit designs
For a week August 5 through the 9th at the Juneau Arts and Culture Center (JACC), Sealaska Heritage Institute’s Jineit Academy, the Juneau School District and JACC sponsored 9 school teachers and 9 Tlingit artists from Southeast Alaska to collaborate with one another to design classroom kits for school teachers to use to teach Tlingit form line art in grades K-12 to be used throughout Southeast Alaska. The intention of this week-long seminar is to educate and upgrade the standards of Tlingit form line art.
Artists and school teachers — L to R: Clarissa Rizal, Konrad Frank, Nicole Demmert, Pauline Johnson, Allie High, Arlene Wilson, Jay Watts, Glenda Lindley, Joe James, Darlene, See, Linda Churchill, Alison Bremner, Susan Nachtigal, Della Cheney, Justina Starzynski, Shgen George, Michelle Martin — James White is not pictured
School teachers received a crash course in learning how to draw Tlingit form line and the Native artists learned skills and strategies in teaching form line art in the schools. Invited artists came from Angoon, Kake, Wrangell, Yakutat, Hoonah, Juneau and as far away as Seattle. School teachers came from as far away as Anchorage. This week-long, intense training course is one of the first of its kind.
One of several example kits (used in the Juneau Public Schools), reviews the learning the ovoid
During our introductions on the first day, we realized that none of us knew what we were getting into. We were not clear of the intention of the course; we just filled out the one-page paperwork a month prior to the event questioning us if we had ever taught in the schools and where we learned our form line art, and figured okay, what the hey! So it’s just like artists to fly on a wing and show up, not knowing what the heck we’re getting into — it’s another adventure! And what an adventure this one was: an experience of a lifetime.
Konrad James explains to the class the kit his group reviewed – Instructor Heather Ridgeway stands in the far right listening to our observations
Enthusiastic Heather Ridgeway formed us into groups of two or three to review classroom kits that have been used in the school system for several years. These kits were examples that helped us learn how to design and implement our own kits that we would create to teach students form line art and refine their art each year so that by the time they reach high school, they are well-versed in thought and hand, how to create a successful Tlingit design.
Academy coordinators Shgen George and Shaadootlaa Hanlon provide guidelines on how the artists and the school teachers will begin to collaborate on the creation of new kits that will teach K-12 students the formline art of the Tlingit
There were so many things we artists learned during this week; and the great part about this seminar was that it was actually fun! We had so much fun thinking, thinking, thinking for 8 hours, that by the end of each day at 5pm we were exhausted. I, personally, can CREATE for 8 hours no problem, but to THINK for 8 hours non-stop, holy, that’s a lot of WORK! — no wonder why teachers cannot do anything else in their 9 months of work other than teach; their creative work is in teaching others how to learn! By the end of this seminar, my appreciation level for teachers in the schools sky-rocketed.
Former-school-teacher-now-Teacher-Trainer Lynn Williams explains one of the strategies used to keep children’s attention and to complete their projects
Teacher Coach, Lynn Mitchell reviews each artist group who begin creation of a new kit
Pauline Johnson (artist) and Glenda Lindley (teacher) collaborate on kit designed to teach a Kindergartener how to identify ovoids in form line art
Juneau school teacher and artist, Shgen George teaches the school teachers a step-by-step process of the basic fundamentals of Tlingit form line art – several of us artists wanted to sit in on the class!
James White (teacher), Nicole Demmert (artist), and Jay Watts (teacher) hash out the details of how the kit instructions will be explained to the school teacher who will use this kit to teach her students form line art – while James does a test piece on his proposed kit using clay
Ask Della Cheney what she thought of the whole concept of Tlingit artists and public school teachers coming together to assist one another in teaching Tlingit form line art to K-12 students: De-light-ful!
Click here to read the Juneau Empire article. Thank you for your interest.
And thank you to Shgen George, Shaadootlaa Hanlon, Davina Cole, and Annie Calkins who helped organize this event.
Thank you to our teaching instructors: Heather Ridgeway, Lynn Mitchell and Roblin Gray
Gunal’cheesh!
Aug 6, 2013 | Class Act, Tlingit Culture Accentuated |
The four of us took over the crew members’ table in the cafeteria of the MV Malespina; it was the only table long enough to fit all of us!
Carver Allie High looks over the shoulder of Jackie Johnson Pata watching Crystal Rogers weave. Jackie is also a Chilkat weaver and Allie says she ought to take up weaving since there seems to be such comraderie amongst the weavers and she feels left out! (Hmmm…I think she has good point there!)
Weaver Marsha Hotch sews on a pair of moccasins while Jackie Johnson Pata visits
Weaver Ricky Tagaban spins his warp; he is preparing to start weaving his first Chilkat robe too.
Clarissa weaves on her child-size Chilkat robe (notice the Alano Edzerza hand-silkscreened cotton knit tunic she is wearing).
Teahonna James is shaping her second Chilkat circle!
The crew member’s table in the cafeteria is truly the perfect spot on the entire ship; good views, good lighting, good company and half way decent food just a step away – what could we have asked for!?
The end of our weaving tour was in sight. We all parted a couple of days after we reached Juneau; we all went our separate ways until we meet again! Maybe in a month, maybe next Summer…we’ll see what happens – but whatever happens, I will make sure I keep you posted!
Aug 5, 2013 | Class Act, Tlingit Culture Accentuated |
Teey Woodi’ – Cedar Bark
While demonstrating at the Sheldon Museum in Haines, Alaska, we of course had to look at the exhibit around us. We were surprised to see a display of materials and supplies used in Chilkat weaving on display with the words in Tlingit! Here are the examples they had on display and I am happy to be able to share these; thank you to the folks who had the idea to do this type of display! Gunal’cheesh!
Below the cases of Chilkat blankets on the wall in the background there are cases that house the examples of the product with the Tlingit and English weaving item.
Kasek’Xu – Dye
Kakein – Yarn
Sankeit – Chilkat apron
X’usKeit – Leggings —– Good’as’ – Chilkat Dance Shirt
Naaxein Kadoosne’ — Chilkat Weaving
Aug 4, 2013 | Adventures of Rear-Mirror Rissy, Class Act, Honoring Others, North Tide, Tlingit Culture Accentuated |
Flanked by Crystal and Clarissa’s Chilkat weaving looms, Teahonna James weaves on her Chilkat headdress in the upstairs room of the Sheldon Museum in Haines, Alaska
The Sheldon Museum, though small and cozy in comparison to many museums about the country, has quite the collection and display on Chilkat weaving. In fact, for the first time ever, the weaving exhibit included Tlingit language weaving terms! I have posted them on a separate blog entry; click here to the link.
Teahonna quietly weaves in the room surrounded by “artifacts” – yet to us, they are “relatives” – they are “related” to us in some form or another, whether it be a tool used by our ancestors, or a map carried by a visitor, or a robe woven by our teacher – there is relativity to us
For several years, I thought it a good thing to learn to speak the weaving terms in our Tlingit language. I wished I had asked Jennie to teach me the weaving terms but I was too young to even know what to ask. I watched a documentary on a dugout canoe carved on an island in Lake LaBarge in the Whitehorse area; at one point during the completion ceremony of the canoe, Lance Twitchell a young speaker of Tlingit who taught himself the language not even 10 years ago, who is now an assistant professor at the University of Alaska Southeast, spoke so eloquently in our Native tongue that even though I didn’t know what he was saying, hearing the language in that moment immediately brought tears to my eyes – he spoke as if he were an elder who has returned to us only to find remnants of a language almost obliterated and he alone with a couple of others are working hard to bring it back. Lance looked as if he carried this “weight” upon his shoulders. In that moment, I told myself that when I return to Haines and live there, I will learn my language, and I will begin with the weaving terms so that I may teach it to my students.
Do all Chilkat weavers have long hair? Many do. Clarissa and Crystal have kept their long hair – a trademark of many Tlingit women before the Westerners arrival.
The two Chilkat robes in the background were woven by the last of the traditional Chilkat weavers, the late Jennie Thlunaut; and to the left of the robes, the Ravenstail robe was woven by Lani Strong Hotch from Klukwan
In the left behind Crystal and Clarissa, the small child-size Chilkat robe was woven by Jennie Thlunaut – come to think of it, this may have been her very last Chilkat robe before she passed in July 1986
Because of such beautiful, warm weather, we agreed to demonstrate weaving nearby the totem pole carvers on the last day outside the front entrance to the Sheldon Museum
Nathan Jackson (r) visits Jim Heaton, the master carver of this particular pole (who isn’t pictured but standing to the left), and sculpture artist Matthew Hincman – in the background are singer/composer William Wasden from Alert Bay, B.C. and leader/singer/drummer of the Dahka Kwaan Dancers from Whitehorse, Y.T., Marilyn Jensen
Except for the Swiss-made chisel, these are hand-made carver’s tools
Teahonna spinning warp – She is trying to meet her goal of 300 yards of Chilkat warp so she too can begin weaving a child-size Chilkat robe.
L to R: William Wasden, Marilyn Jensen, William’s nephew Mark, Clarissa Rizal, Crystal Rogers, Matthew Hincman, Megan Jensen,Jim Heaton, Jim’s carving apprentice Joe (?), Nathan Jackson, and Jim Simard
On the last day of our demonstration, there suddenly was a congregation of familiar visitors and friends who “happened to be in town” – at our request, William Wasden sang a couple of compositions in honor of weaving and in honor of the carvers, especially in honor of local master carver, Nathan Jackson.
After a wonderful last day, we wished we had been demonstrating our weaving outside the other two previous days; we wondered how many other folks we would have reached had we been more exposed.
We wove outside way past the Museum’s closing hours until the sun went behind Mt. Ripinsky
Chilkat weaving has become a way of life. I see how it has shaped my world views, my connections to people, places and things; it has even made me philosophize more so than ever! haha! I see all the relativity of things via Chilkat. It is something that I want to share with our people. As with all of us, our time here is limited. I am a busy woman, constantly. I am one of a few who makes the time and energy to teach our women. I want to help bring up the standard of internal living within the minds and hearts of our women. I have experienced the gift it has brought me and how it has changed me internally. Chilkat weaving provides an internal strength I had no idea existed. I want our women to experience this internal strength. When we strengthen our women, we strengthen the bond of our relationships. If during her status as a Chilkat weaver that her relationship with her partner goes awry, possibly the integrity of her partner did not match with the strength of Chilkat weaving. When we strengthen the woman, it is like a rippling effect; the power moves out like a water dropping into the ocean…the weaving strengthens the relationship which in turns strengthen the family unit which in turns strengthens the community, which then strengthens the nation…and the world!
Thank you to my apprentices, Crystal Rogers, Teahonna James, Vanessa Morgan, and the new “groupie” Stefanie Sidney, for coming along for the “ride” – it’s been quite the experience and treat! Let’s do this again! Truly, what would a teacher be without her students?
Aug 3, 2013 | Honoring Others, Showing Off |
Clarissa’s son, Kahlil Lampe Hudson, Skyping on the big screen with Q&A directly after his film “Low and Clear” at the Nickelodean Theatre in Juneau, Alaska
Kahlil’s documentary “Low and Clear” finally screened in Juneau with two showings on Saturday, August 3rd. Kahlil and friend Tyler Hughen, co-directed and co-produced the film which has made its rounds in the film festival circuit around the nation and world, including Amsterdam, Canada and Australia. For a trailer on the film, you may visit his website at: http://www.lowandclear.com/
In the audience, Kahlil’s old-time friend, Jesse Tabor, son of the late Buddy Tabor, and Kahlil’s sister, Lily Hope
The cinematography in this film is exquisite. Sure you can call me biased because I am his mother, but I am making this statement because it is in no doubt, true. If anything, don’t believe me but see for yourself; watch the film for its photography of nature and the sense of no-slap-stick-humor displayed throughout the film.
On my way up a mountain in Haines to pick berries, I ran into friends who told me that Kahlil’s film was filming this evening at the Nickelodean. What? Kahlil didn’t tell his mother? Determined to pick blue berries still, I decided that I would do both: pick berries for a few hours, then get on a plane from Haines to Juneau to see the film this night and return back to Haines the next morning. Seems ridiculous but what how could a mother not see the official screening of her son’s film in their own home town? Hello? I knew that if I didn’t do whatever it took to get on that flight, I would have regret it and I prefer to live my life with as few regrets as possible.
When I first saw the film on big screen with Dan during the film festival in Telluride, Colorado, we sat in the front seat, in total awe. Viewing the film again for the second time in Juneau was just as awesome with additional excitement this time with the anticipation that the audience would be able to communicate with Kahlil via Skype.
In the opening scene and throughout certain places of the film, I thought of my father and mother. Like I said, the cinematography is exquisite and it brought me to tears. I know my parents would have been proud to see the talents of their first-born grandchild’s accomplishment. I had so wished they were alive to see this film on two fishermen and their ways of fishing.
My father was an avid troller fisherman in Alaska. He was a fisherman in the Philippines where he was born but when he moved to Alaska, he started to fish in the Gulf of Alaska near Kodiak. Then in 1955, he headed down to Excursion Inlet/Haines/Hoonah/Juneau area. He fished all of his life. I would love to have seen the expressions on his face and my mother’s face if they saw Kahlil’s film. C’est la vie!
Go ahead and order the film from Kahlil and Tyler’s website, or even check it out on Netflix if you must see it right away. I suggest you watch it on the biggest screen you can so you can absorb the magnificence of the water scenes.
Click here to read the Juneau Empire article introducing the film.
