Jan 8, 2013 | Acting Out and Musical Chairs, Health and Wellness, Showing Off |
After my mother and brother passed away in 2011 (along with other major “losses” in my life between 2009 and 2011), I felt I needed a “happy fix” or mend or healing; something that would help me let go of the trauma and drama. For a long time, I felt a ukelele was coming to me, lingering around the eaves…then one fine Fall day in 2011, I bought myself the ukelele…and except for a 6 month period last year, I’ve been learning all kinds of songs and strums…it is truly the instrument of happiness and peace! – If everyone played the ukelele, there would be world peace!
At the beginning of 2012, I made a goal to learn one new song per week on the uke; i was going good until the first week of May (when the Ex presented another curve ball in my life). Since May, I hadn’t played much less learn a new song every week – not until Christmas Day 2012; I spent the day playing. My granddaughter was looking through these two song books (below) and I had forgotten we had these two gems for many years on the kids’ bookshelves. Such a delight to find “Ghost Riders In the Sky”, “Tingo-Lay-O” and “This Little Light of Mine” (amongst other old timey favorites like “Michael Row the Boat Ashore” and “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star”). I play some of these songs with a combination of Native American chant, spaghetti western and Hispanic rhythm – if you can imagine that.
I learned three Christmas tunes including my all-time favorite “The Christmas Song” (starts out with “chestunuts roasting on an open fire…”) and I learned all of the above tunes as well. I also learned the traditional Andean tune “El Condor Paza” made famous by Simon and Garfunkle. I almost made up for lost time last year learning about 10 songs the past three weeks to the already 25 songs I know (4 of them Bob Dylan tunes).
For those of you who are interested in playing the ukelele, buy the next size up from the standard size uke, the “concert” size, from the Hawaiian Music Company. Buy one with a plug-in so you can have the option of using an amp. The uke is fairly easy to play. To learn a few traditional and pop songs, plug into youtube and search for Ukelele Mike’s ukelele lessons. He’s pretty simple, clear and ….well, different.
I appreciate the addition of this dear friend in my life. Once I master this little guy, maybe in the next year or two, I am going to get myself the cello!
We’ve had these two kid’s song books in our family for over 25 years. They came with cassette tapes but those are long gone with all the moves we’ve made in that time period. Once you learn your chords, take up these books; they are packed with old-timey, simple songs that even your grandchildren will love to boogie!
I have no intentions of getting pulled off track this year if I can help it any. I intend to learn one new song a week during this year. Thank goodness I still have my aging wits about me that I can even REMEMBER the words to the songs! heehee!
Playing ukelele during late Spring in the Colorado mountains at 10,000 feet amongst a grove of evergreens, aspens and wildflower meadow – the great thing about the ukelele is that it can go with you just about anywhere; it is lightweight and portable and when you put it in the overhead of the plane, people think you’re a violin maestro instead!
My friend Shar Fox just emailed me the group of folks playing ukelele, the Juneau JamBusters in Juneau, Alaska — check them out on their website at: http://www.juneaujambusters.com/
I know where I’ll be when I return to Juneau!
Jan 7, 2013 | Honoring Others, Latest Art Projects, Ravens & Eagles, Showing Off, Tlingit Culture Accentuated, Tools-of-the-Trade |
After drafting the pattern in pencil, then I outline with a black Sharpie marker
Have you noticed that even though I may be weaving on a Chilkat robe for a year or two, I do not ever show the process of me weaving on this blog until AFTER the robe is completed? The reason is because I was taught by my teacher Jennie Thlunaut that whenever Chilkat weavers are weaving a robe (as opposed to an apron, headdress, leggings, etc.), that we are not to publicly show the robe to the person(s) who has commissioned the robe. Another Tlingit taboo? I don’t know. While I was weaving with Jennie, I gave up asking her the question “Why” every time she told me certain Chilkat “guidelines.” I remembered that the elderly folk of that time period and before did not explain the “why” of things – you just did what you were told, and that was that.
Using the Sharpie marker, I fill in the form line. I used elements from a couple of robes. This is a Diving Whale with an Eagle in the right side of the body and a Raven in the left side. – The far right design elements are called the “filler.”
I apologize that I cannot show you the process of weaving this robe. My goal is to finish by May 1st this year; then I will post a sequence of photographs.
Jan 5, 2013 | Adventures of Rear-Mirror Rissy, Latest Art Projects, Showing Off |
I taught my granddaughter how to cut with scissors last year when I was making collages; she’s two years old. Here she cuts confidently a Life magazine of McGovern (the 70’s!) to apply it to her collage sitting on the table at the Museum of International Collage…!
Mother and child inspect the first collage; not too much criticism though – it will be included in the exhibit…I dare say, I think she may be the youngest contributor to the museum’s collection and exhibits(!?)
Jan 3, 2013 | Honoring Others, Relationship Overdrive |
I introduce and wish to thank my friend Cecilia Arnold, who has worked for and with me for almost 20 years in a variety of fields from gardening, to house-cleaning, to art and administrative assistance. In her former life before moving to Colorado, she was an art professor at Penland School of Arts and Crafts in North Carolina. We ran into one another the day after New Year’s at my favorite western store of all time, Goodman’s. – Hey, Notice the cell phone cover!
Since the birth of my first child 36 years ago this month, I have often said “a woman needs a wife!” It wasn’t until 1994 when I moved into my Colorado home that I took my own “medicine.” When I have been able to afford it, I have hired my friend Cecilia who has been an invaluable asset to me as an artist, mother, gardener, home-maker and business woman. Cecilia has been nearly a “wife” – like a kind of “mid-wife” per se in that she has helped “born” many a project, many a plant and many a clean home! Ladies, I suggest you obtain a “wife” especially when you’ve got a lot going on – she’s the ultimate stress-reliever!
Jan 1, 2013 | Latest Art Projects, Showing Off, Tlingit Culture Accentuated |
Crayon sketch #1 is prototype for one of several paintings to do this year…
Last year in February 2012, my friend Lis Saya gifted me a box of “woodless” colour pencils (more like crayons); she thought that pencils without the wood were fascinatingly unique so she bought herself a set as well. During a concert, we sat together and put our sketchpads to use! I’ve posted a few sketches from my drawing pad; these will be used as “patterns” for my next few paintings this year…
This one reminds me of the coloring of overlapping shapes we’d do in Kindergarten, so I call this one “Kinder-ed Spirits”
This line drawing reminds me of the red earth canyons in the Southwest with varying levels, boulders and pebbles…just ink on paper
One of my very first charcoals in a long time; this reminds me of seaweeds and bull kelp…sometimes I just doodle and these are the things that come out of me…these kinds of drawings allow me the freedom to just play. They are not structured, purposeful, sophisticated art for example, the button robes and Chilkat weavings. I like the structure and the playfulness of both ways of being and doing.
And hey, MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
Dec 2, 2012 | Adventures of Rear-Mirror Rissy, Health and Wellness, Showing Off, Tlingit Culture Accentuated, To Market To Market |
Hand-caste paper feathers by Clarissa Rizal will be available for sale during Juneau’s First Friday Gallery Walk, December 7th, 2012
During the First Friday Gallery Walk, December 7th (4:30-7:30pm), Clarissa will be the guest artist at the “Aurora Healing Arts” on North Franklin Street just a half-block up from the Hearthside Books in downtown Juneau.
The hand-caste paper feathers above are made with recycled papers, with a vein of cedar bark trailing down through the middle of the feather to a mother-of-pearl button tipped with a strand of beads and with a crystal teardrop dangling at the end.
You may purchase the feathers with Native American quotes hand-written on them or there are blank ones to add your own inscription or keep it plain and simple!
Aurora Healing Arts is located on North Franklin Street a 1/2 block up from Hearthside Books in the Triangle Building in downtown Juneau
Aurora Healing Arts is owned and operated by Jan Parrish and Greg Garrison, featuring Infrared saunas, Devil’s Club salves and teas, healthy lifestyle products and herbal remedies. Also, Jan has been a licensed acupuncturist/herbalist with nearly 30 years experience with a treatment room off the retail store outlet. They recently opened a month ago.
Window into the world of “Aurora Healing Arts” – check out the paper feathers and all other good things for you in the window the next time you walk past…!
Aurora Healing Art’s uniquely exclusive Devil’s Club Chai tea in both decaff and caffeinated – and in my opinion, “Miracle Mend” is the best all-around healing salve
Auromatherapy spray mists “Raven Woman”, “Eagle’s Feather” and “Glacier Mist”…wonderfully fragrant for swinging into good moods!
Clarissa will have a variety of things available for your Christmas shopping options; they include: beaded wool felt Russian-style 1800-s Navy hats, shrink-wrapped Giclee prints, hand-caste paper feathers, gumboot earrings, greeting cards, original charcoals, cell phone covers and Chilkat robe pattern board paintings on canvas. (Note: The limited edition of hand-printed, hand-sewn Tlingit dolls have all been sold.)
Below are photos of some of the items for sale at this December Gallery Walk in Juneau…
9 greeting card images of button blankets based on robes designed by Clarissa – buy them individually or in a pack of 9 – use them as greeting cards or mat and frame them!
Beaded Russian-style wool felt hats by Clarissa – long-time friend, Kamala with Clarissa stand in front of a Chilkat pattern board on canvas
Spraying clear laquer to set the charcoal (to prevent charcoal from smearing!) – “Totemic Theories” is a charcoal on canvas available for sale in two separate formats: a wall panel measuring 28″w x 72″h and a free-standing column measuring 28″ x 76″
Dress up in your favorite, festive winter garb and join the Gallery Walk this coming Friday, December 7th; come visit Auorora Healing Arts and have a swig of Devil’s Club Chai and a bite to eat while checking out Clarissa’s work – we look forward to seeing you!
Nov 11, 2012 | Adventures of Rear-Mirror Rissy, Class Act, Tlingit Culture Accentuated, Uncategorized |
Just enough room to fit 7 students learning to create a buttonblanket robe sampler in the cozy Raven’s Nest Gallery owned and operated by Sue and Israel Shotridge on Vashon Island, Washington State
Almost 30 years I’ve been designing and creating button robes. It never occurred to me to teach a class until Sue Shotridge dropped the first hint a couple of months ago. She bugged me some more until she got a real commitment. Golly, I’m sure thankful she insisted. As usual, like anything a teacher teaches, we just get better at it. With the tricks-of-the-trade I learned from my students, I shoulda been teaching classes long time ago!
Tools of the trade: thin sock filled with baby powder, pounce wheel, rotary cutter, snip scissors, Elmer’s glue, paper pattern, straight edge, antique mother-of-pearl buttons and of course, your fabric…!
The pounce wheel creates tiny holes along the design lines which will allow the baby powder to filter through onto the wool
Cindy Leask using the rotary cutter to cut the pattern in her black wool
…cutting out the design. The entire class pretty much kept up with one another…impressive!
A few of the students worked late into the evening…
After sewing down the design with a blanket stitch, the buttons are carefully laid out
Each button is carefully glued in place. This trick I learned from the late Agnes Thlunaut Belllinger back in the late ’70s when I never even thought of making robes – one day during dance practice, out of the sky blue, Agnes said “…Clarissa, when you are making button robes, do the layout of all the buttons and then one-by-one glue each carefully with Elmer’s glue…” Little did she know I couldn’t stand sewing buttons onto even a shirt let alone a robe with hundreds of buttons, but somewhere along the line, she musta known what my spirit many years later would go into…
It was great to see enthusiastic students play with buttons…
Clarissa’s first button blanket-making class – L to R: Clarissa, Anne Kelly, Michelle Ruelas, Paul Barry, Marilynn Short, Cindy Leask, and Steven Seto
Nov 9, 2012 | Honoring Others, Showing Off, Tlingit Culture Accentuated |
Sue and Israel Shotridge at work in the studio…
I am inserting this image in my blog of these two artists because I really like these people and I want to introduce you to them: Israel is working on a pendant design and Sue is pouncing a pattern. They are multi-talented, multi-faceted folks who I’d applause 8 days a week! They are the owners of Raven’s Nest Gallery in Vashon, Washington State. You may visit their website at www.shotridgestudios.com — Thank you to Sue who produced, coordinated and hosted my very first button blanket-making class!
Nov 7, 2012 | Class Act, Latest Art Projects, Tlingit Culture Accentuated |
Back in 1983, I was commissioned by SEARHC (Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium in Juneau, Alaska) to create a poster design for their alcohol rehabilitation program – “Step Into the Light” – we hand-silkscreened an edition of 50 prints. – This image is a painting on a wooden box
I also did a version of this design into a full-size buttonrobe that SEARHC owns for their “Raven’s Way” program. Over the years, I have noticed other versions of this design that other artists have gladly used; I decided that I would do the same thing! I will be teaching my very first button robe class held on Vashon Island, Washington State and I am basing the class pattern on this original design. Like the designs of old, when they were good, there were versions of them done in a variety of mediums…by the original artist!
The design tells the story of the “Box of Daylight” where Raven “steals” each box from the chief of the Nass River (in B.C.) that holds the sun, moon and stars; Raven then opens each box and breaks light to the world.
This design shows Raven being the actual box; the lid of the box is open and it is simultaneously Raven’s head with the Sun coming out of the box. The chief is the profile face within the main body of Raven. Three potlatch rings are shown on his brow.
Drafting up the button robe pattern based on the original design – will be used as the pattern for a button robe sampler class I am teaching this coming weekend in Vashon, WA
Nov 6, 2012 | Honoring Others, Latest Art Projects, Tlingit Culture Accentuated |
In honor of my cousin, the late Pat Mills from Hoonah, Alaska, for the upcoming koo.eex (pay-off party), I drew an ink & acrylic sketch of Pat, as if dancing in a Chilkat robe that could have been his – the robe includes his infamous “FV Mary JoAnne” sailing along with salmon and halibut
With my friend Cecil’s assistance, we printed 88 copies of the “Mary Joanne Chilkat Robe” as gifts for Pat’s koo.eex coming up on November 17 in Hoonah, Alaska. Why print an edition of 88? Simply because that’s all the paper I had. This printer is the Epson 7880 24″ model. I’ve had it for about 4 years, however, I find it difficult to make time to print all that I want to print. There is only so much time in 8 days a week!
Nov 2, 2012 | Latest Art Projects, Showing Off, Tlingit Culture Accentuated, To Market To Market |
“Totemic Mosaic #001” is part of the group exhibit opening November 1st at the Quintana Gallery in Portland, Oregon. Other artists include Alano Edzerza, Shaun Peterson, Paul Rowley and LessLIE Sam.
“Quintana Gallery celebrates its 40th anniversary with a year-long series of exhibitions that honor its past, present and future. The last in this series is a group show of the next generation of artists who are carrying native art forward with contemporary eyes and firm roots in tradition.” These images in this blog entry are a few pieces created for this show.
“Totemic Mosaic #004” — I have made about 5 (maybe 6? – hard to recall) of these “mosaics” since this Summer. They are on hand-built curved canvasses. They are fun to create.
“Totemic Mosaic #005” – this photo gives a little bit of perspective on the curved canvas theme.
Oct 31, 2012 | Latest Art Projects, Tlingit Culture Accentuated |
Clarissa drafts her pattern for her first child-size Chilkat robe. It will fit a child from about 2 years to 6 years old, depending on size of kid. It is a robe that can be also used as a dance apron by an adult.
Jennie Thlunaut’s last Chilkat weaving was a child-size robe finished directly before she passed in July 1986. I don’t know why I never thought of weaving a child-size robe, but I got inspired by seeing all these little people dancing on stage at the commemoration of the new cultural center in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory this past June. It was my mother’s birthday; my Mamma was on my mind as I watched these little kids as confident in their dance as any adult I’d ever seen – I know my mother would have enjoyed seeing these kids…then suddenly in my mind’s eye, I saw children in Chilkat robes….! And that was that! In honor of my mother, in honor of those children and their inspiration and in honor of my own grandchildren, I’ve got the borders woven on my very first child-size Chilkat robe! And today I’m finishing up the design!
