Huna Totem Corporation Celebrates Their 40th

Jul 28, 2013 | Honoring Others, Latest Art Projects, Showing Off, Tlingit Culture Accentuated | 0 comments

The Mt. Fairweather Dancers from Hoonah, Alaska prepare to do their performance in honor of Huna Totem Corporation’s 40th year while shareholder members gather together at the fire pit along the board walk that leads one way to the Cannery Site and the other way to the Resturaunt

Huna Totem Corporation had sent out an RFP to their shareholder artists requesting a design in whatever medium the artist chose to represent their vision statement for the future:  “…sailing the canoe of our ancestor’s into the future…”  My design of a button robe was commissioned.  Click here to the blog entry of the design.

(Note:  In this blog entry you won’t be seeing any photographs of other activities during the 40th celebration because I didn’t attend any others due to a time constraint – I was only at the celebration for not quite an hour.)

After the first “coming in” dance, the Mt. Fairweather Dancers turn their backs against the audience to show each dancer’s clan emblem

During that same weekend of July 26, 27 and 28 was in Teslin, Yukon for the weekend demonstrating Chilkat weaving with several of my apprentices during their  biennial “Kus Te Yea Celebration 2013”.  (click here to read the blog entry on the Celebration event.)  Huna Totem implored me to come down to Hoonah on the day of their event, Saturday the 27th, to do the presentation of the robe  and explain the design; they wanted me to do this in person so I was plugged into the agenda at 1:30pm.  Even though I really didn’t want to leave my students and to leave the Teslin Celebration for a day, I agreed to go to Hoonah (especially since Huna Totem has been good to me, I will do the same for them!)

Young children, Fran Franolovich, Lillian Hillman and Marlene Johnson enjoying the youth of the Mt. Fairweather Dancers

I don’t know what other events happened during the day at Huna’s 40th celebration because I really didn’t have time to partake in the events, so I cannot give you any other information other than tell you about my spectacular drive from Teslin to Skagway and the return flight from Hoonah to Skagway via Juneau and Haines.  (Click here to see the blog entry on the return flight from Hoonah to Skagway.)

Huna Totem Board Members and M.C. Kenny Grant are invited to dance with the Mt. Fairweather Dancers

The drive from Teslin to Skagway was 3 hours; absolutely one of the most beautiful drives in the world!   (I kept in mind that Yukon time is one hour ahead of Alaska time.)   I caught the plane from Skagway to Juneau at 11:45am; it was a 45 minute flight to Juneau; then caught the 12:45pm  20-minute flight to Hoonah arriving a little bit after 1pm and by the time I arrived at the Cannery Point, it was about 1:45 and luckily the program was running a little late, I had just enough time to eat a bag of chips, briefly say hello to Kogo Hugo and meet her mother from Japan, and say hello to Florence Sheakley and check out her beaded earrings, and then it was time to do the presentation.  After explaining the design (click here for blog entry on the robe design and explanation), I had about 10 minutes to enjoy the rest of the Mt. Fairweather Dancers’ performance and then I was whisked away and caught the outbound flight to Juneau at 3:30 with board members of the Huna Totem; we arrived in Juneau by 4:00.  I had an hour to hang out at the consignment shop “Alaska Dames” before catching the 5:30 flight to Skagway via Haines.  The pilot said he just had to take a few extra minutes and do a flight like that since the weather was so perfectly beautiful!

The flight from Juneau to Haines was phenomenal (click here to see the blog entry on that fabulous flight); the pilot took us on a scenic flight of the local glaciers in the Juneau area:  the Mendenhall, Peterson and Eagle; he flew over Berner’s Bay, then across Lynn Canal up towards the mouth of the Chilkat River just south of Haines – then we flew UP the Davidson Glacier, flew around the back side of the front range of the Chilkats and then DOWN Rainbow Glacier, passed Paradise Cover (where I once had land), over Pyramid Island and then landed at the Haines airport – Holy what a flight!!!

When we flew up Davidson I cried I was so happy I unbuckled my seat belt and looked out both sides of the plane’s window; I just love this land, I love the Chilkat range, I love the Chilkat river; I so be-long here!  I swear that when I die, I want my ashes spread up and down these Chilkat glaciers and at the mouth of the Chilkat River and at Paradise Cove!

By the time I arrived in Skagway, it was 7pm (that’s 8pm Yukon time).  I could have spent the night in Skagway, but I just wanted to make the drive back to Teslin and wake up to another day of demonstrating in our little “weavers’ cabin” on Teslin Lake for the last day of Teslin’s “Kus Te Yea.”  I got detained at the Yukon Alaska border because I got into a half-hour conversation with the border guard about politics, art, cultural integration, etc.  It was already 9:30 by the time I left the border and I was getting tired.  I had to pull over a couple of times to rest; I was avoiding falling asleep at the wheel.  The weather was beautiful the entire day; the night was just as astounding.  At this time of year, the sky does not get totally dark, so there are no stars to see, though the natural evening midnight sun light was gorgeous; everything looked “rosie.”  I passed 3 cars during the entire drive from Skagway to Teslin, arriving at midnight.   And there were never any cars behind me.  I suppose I was the only car heading North from Skagway for those particular hours.  It was eerie.  I don’t think I will do that drive by myself again!

Mentor and Dance Instructor Billy Wilson rests while he watches his “children” do the songs and dances

This particular Raven Dancer knows how to strut!

The pride and unity of the Mt. Fairweather Dancers!

During my brief visit to this event in Hoonah, I looked about me at all the folks who came out to help celebrate Huna Totem’s 40th year – everyone looked so familiar even though many of the people I did not recognize.  I looked about and realized that the elders that I was used to seeing were no longer; I realized that the folks who were just 10 to 20 years older than me were really not that much older than me!  whoa!  I am becoming one of those elders!  Holy moly!

After spending an entire month with the in-land Tlingit in Yukon where there is no ocean, no ocean smell, not as much moisture in the air, I truly felt like I fit in with those people, yet, coming down to Hoonah even for an hour, I felt a true kinship with the land here too, of course with its people – my clan the T’akDeinTaan are originally from here – we were branched down from the Coho from the Alsek River in the Yakutat area – I have to remember that I am a “coastal Native” (as the in-land Tlingit define us).

M.C. Kenny Grant reads the real copy of Clarissa’s latest brochure. He was going to read from a xerox copy of the brochure that someone handed to him so he could introduce Clarissa properly when she presents the button robe she was commissioned to create in honor of Huna Totem’s 40th year; when Clarissa saw that his was a copy and not the real thing, she presented him with his own very real brochure! Kenny’s immediate response: “Hey,…this is MUCH BETTER! Now I can actually READ it!”

I would post a photo of myself presenting the Button robe that I recently completed for Huna Totem’s 40th, but I didn’t take a photo of me explaining the design to the celebration audience.  I will post one as soon as someone emails or texts me a photo image of it!  In the meantime, click here to see the design and creation of the button robe BEFORE delivering the completed robe to Huna Totem.

Gunal’cheesh Hoho!  Thank you very much for visiting my blog and reading this entry!