Jun 26, 2013 | Latest Art Projects, Ravens & Eagles, Tlingit Culture Accentuated, To Market To Market |
“Eagle Raven Lovebirds” button blanket robe – collaboration of form line design by Preston Singletary and Clarissa Rizal seamstress (and she chose the fabrics and buttons) – Photograph by Ruth Borgfjord
Crystal Rogers from Juneau, Alaska modeled this button blanket at the DaZeTs’an Fashion Show Wednesday night, June 26th at the Adaka Festival in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory.
The robe is made of two types of woven cotton “tapestry-like” upholstery fabric, hand-appliqued with antique mother-of-pearl and abalone buttons.
Crystal Rogers does a slight dance during the fashion show just before she exit the stage – she was one of the best models because of her demure and mysterious “air” about her as she kept her chin down hiding her face from the bright stage lights – our grandparents would have been proud of her!
Jun 24, 2013 | Adventures of Rear-Mirror Rissy, Honoring Others, Showing Off, Tlingit Culture Accentuated |
Ravenstail robe “Grandmother’s Time” woven by Ann Smith, Whitehorse, Yukon danced by her son Shawn Smith, and a Chilkat robe “Diving Whale Lovebirds” woven by Clarissa Rizal, Juneau, Alaska, danced by fellow artist Wayne Price. They were both “hired” to dance the robes with the “Weavers’ Dance” on Sunday, June 23rd during the Adaka Festival main stage.
Ann Smith carefully adjusts her son Shawn Smith’s collar of “Grandmother’s Time” Ravenstail robe
A couple days before the “coming out” of four woven robes that were in the Adaka Art Exhibit, Crystal Rogers and I were in the Elder’s room (where the weaving class was held during the Adaka Festival); I was playing with the warp stick using it like a walking cane pretending i was an old old elder – then I began to dance with it like a man holding a dance staff and wouldn’t it be fun if all of us weavers had one of these and danced with it like this – suddenly Crystal excitedly exclaimed: “…no, let’s hold it like a woman, soft and demure as if we are holding a precious item in our hand…” – we were so dead set on doing this during the “coming in” dance of the woven robes that we asked Ann Smith if her son could make enough warp sticks for all the weavers…and so was born the use of the warp sticks during the “coming out” dance of the woven robes…!
Clarissa adjusts the closure of Crystal Rogers’ “Eagle Raven” button blanket (a collaboration of two artists: design by Preston Singletary, hand-sewn by Clarissa Rizal
“Grandmother’s Time”, “Copper Child” (collaboration Lily Hope and Clarissa Rizal) and “Eagle Raven”
Front views of all three…
The following photos are of Whitehorse’s weaving class members dancing the “weavers’ dance…”
Ravenstail and Chilkat weavers with their “warp sticks” – a hand-made wooden stick with notches to measure the warp yarns for a dance robe or dance apron – these sticks were fashioned after the late Jennie Thlunaut’s warp stick
Thank you very much, Everett Smith, for crafting an additional 10 wooden warp sticks with short notice of two days so we may dance the “weavers’ dance!”
While the narrator introduces the next song, the dancers keep their backs to the audience waiting for the next dance song to begin
The “Raven” robe on the right is also designed by Preston Singeltary and sewn by Clarissa Rizal
Clarissa’s “Diving Whale Lovebirds” Chilkat robe danced by Wayne Price is dead center stage…
“Diving Whale Lovebirds” Chilkat robe and 4-piece Ravenstail ensemble “Copper Child”
“Weavers’ Dance” with our warp sticks made by Ann Smith’s son, Everett Smith – there were 13 of us – lucky number….!
“Weavers’ Dance”…
Wayne Price in Chilkat robe, Tristin Primozic in 4-piece Ravenstail ensemble, and Shawn Smith in Ravenstail robe
Tristin Primozic of Champagne and Aishihik First Nations is a member of the Wolf moeity and he is a young song leader in training with the Dahka Khwaan Juniors Dance Group. He is wearing “Copper Child”, the 4-piece Ravenstail ensemble woven by Lily Hope and Clarissa Rizal.
After the Weavers’ Dance, outside in front of the cultural center for a photo shoot for the local newspaper
Backside of dancers with robes…the fourth robe on the far left was woven by Ann Smith, danced by Ravenstail and Chilkat weaver Charlene Baker
And thank you to all our models for dancing our robes for us: Charlene Baker, Tristin Primozic, Shawn Smith and Wayne Price
Four robes – Two Ravenstail robes woven by Ann Smith; Chilkat robe woven by Clarissa Rizal, and child-size 4-piece child-size Ravenstail ensemble woven by Lily Hope and Clarissa
Owners of the new robe, Ken and Lauren Kaushansky with dancer Wayne Price and weaver, Clarissa Rizal
Jun 16, 2013 | Latest Art Projects, Ravens & Eagles, Showing Off, Tlingit Culture Accentuated, To Market To Market |
Pinning the border of the button robe – the design in the background is waiting to be cut out
Couple of years ago I asked my friend Preston Singletary if he had some images suitable for making button robes; I didn’t feel like designing any robes, I just felt like getting down to the nitty gritty and get going on sewing ’em!
Preston’s design of this robe is based on our legend “Raven Steals the Sun”, bringing light to the world.
with a wet cloth placed over the cut-out applique, the heat from the iron fuses the image to the robe body
Lily Hope helps her daughter Bette (SikiKwaan) Hope take out the basting threads
With the help of Lily and Bette in April, and later with my friend Lis Saya who helped lay out the buttons and sew them down, I finally finished this robe to this point by mid-June (though it still needs the circle of buttons about the body).
“Raven and the Sun” is a collaboration between designer by Preston Singletary and seamstress Clarissa Rizal — the robe is not quite finished; it still needs the circle of buttons that goes around the entire body of the Raven
The robe worn by a dancer
Jun 14, 2013 | Honoring Others, Latest Art Projects, Ravens & Eagles, Tlingit Culture Accentuated |
Clarissa finalizes her button blanket design for the Huna Totem’s celebration of their 40th anniversary
Back in February, I was given a week deadline in a competition to draft up a design that reflected one of Southeast Alaska’s Native Corporation’s 40th anniversary vision statement: “…sailing the canoe of our ancestor’s into the future…” I don’t know if I have ever been successful at drafting up a winning design in that short amount of time, but somehow the image came very easily to me and within a day I had the proposal and design done – that’s unheard of in my experiences.
“Stitch witchery” iron-on interfacing assists in applying the cut applique to the robe body – however, this stitch witchery must have been old because the fusion to the wool fabric did not work – alas, I had to hand-baste the design down before sewing it.
The robe was presented during the Huna 40th celebration at the Cannery Point in Hoonah, Alaska on Saturday, July 27th. Click here for the blog entry.
The unfinished robe; still needs the face in the Copper T’naa, the teeth on the shark and the “mountains”
The name of this robe is based on Huna Totem’s request: “…sailing the canoe of our Grandfathers into the future…” The Design explanation is as follows:
…there are four clans in Hoonah whose crests are depicted on the canoe L to R: The Chookaneidi clan’s octopus crest, the WooshkeeTaan clan’s Shark crest, the Kaagwaantaan clan’s wolf crest and the T’akDeinTaan clan’s black-legged kitty-wake crest. In the canoe are the Raven and the Eagle moieties each holding the Copper T’naa which represents the history, culture, wealth and arts. The Eagle and Raven moeities each share in the responsibility of carrying our culture in the canoe of our Grandfathers’ into the future…”
What the robe looks like when it is on a body! – by the way, my model’s name is Dan Shanks
The cool thing about this commemorative 40th-year robe is that it can be worn in ceremony by any one from the four main clans from Hoonah, AND it can be hung on the corporate walls of Huna Totem…I really like the idea of its versatility.
After laying out the buttons under my direction, Lis begins to glue down the “Mt. Fairweather range”… which completes the robe
I never got a professional shot of the completed robe, not even a snap shot of the robe – so I cannot show you the entire robe until somebody sends me a photograph! Quick! – If you happened to be at the 40th anniversary celebration event in Hoonah and you have got a photograph of me doing the presentation, go for it and email me an image – and of course, I may want to use it in this blog entry and of course, I will give you photo credit! Thank you!
Apr 26, 2013 | Latest Art Projects, Tlingit Culture Accentuated |
The completed Ravenstail border for Israel Shotridge’s button blanket robe
Sue Shotridge is sewing a button robe for her husband, Tlingit artist Israel Shotridge, in time for the opening ceremonies of the Chief Shakes’ Clan House Renovation project in Wrangell, Alaska the weekend of May 3rd, 2013. They wanted something special for his button robe; this is it!
The preliminary drawing of the pattern for the border incorporating “Shaman’s Eyes” and “Bear Tracks”
The “bear tracks” pattern is an old traditional pattern; the ‘shaman’s eyes’ pattern was designed by my daughter, Lily Hope, which is a take-off on an old traditional pattern as well.
“Bear Tracks” pattern woven two ways – courtesy of the Ravenstail Weavers Guild booklet entitled “Ravenstail Weaving Patterns and Projects – Ancient and Contemporary” – can be purchased at Hearthside Books in Juneau, Alaska
Close-up of the “bear tracks” on top with “shaman’s eyes” below
Clarissa’s completed Ravenstail border on the weaving loom in front of the Chilkat robe she is presently weaving
The completed border will be attached to the button robe that Sue Shotridge is finishing for her husband, Israel – in time for the dedication ceremony of the Chief Shakes’ clan house renovation next weekend of May 3rd in Wrangell, Alaska
Mar 13, 2013 | Tlingit Culture Accentuated, Tools-of-the-Trade |
Stained cedar bentwood box carved and painted by Clarissa when she was 16 years old under the tutelage of Peter Bibb, the woodshop teacher at Juneau-Douglas High School. The box was a Mother’s Day gift for her mother, Irene. After Irene retired, she began doing bead work; within a 15-year period, she had filled the box with beaded floral and clan emblem pieces. In celebration of her 50th wedding anniversary, Irene’s beaded pieces were applied to button robes, vests and octopus bags for her children and grandchildren. – A smaller cedar bentwood box sits to the right with a beaded “sailor hat” on top a glass head – Clarissa inherited both hat and box when her grandmother passed in 1976.
In the olden days, cedar bentwood boxes stored our clan regalia. Cedar boxes are/were the perfect natural insecticide against moths who have appetites for the woolen regalia in the Chilkat, Ravenstail and Button blanket robes and accessories. Nowadays, many of us use the Rubbermaid plastic tubs for storage, unless of course, you can afford your own work and grace one’s self with carved cedar boxes, or you trade with an artist friend to carve one for you!
When I carved the bentwood box, it was my very first introduction to Northwest Coast Art. Peter Bibb encouraged a number of us Native students to take up our own art because there were very, very few people still carrying on the traditions. He provided us Bill Holm’s “Looking at Northwest Coast Art” book, and if I am not mistaken, the design of this box comes from that particular book. ( I don’t know for sure because I eventually gave that book to my son after my mother passed so I don’t have it on hand to confirm design origin.) Peter kept close watch on my carving; at one time he grinned “…young lady, it looks like you’ve got a natural skill at this…(he chuckled)…who woulda known a little thing like you could do this!?”
When I carved this box for my Mamma, I did not imagine 40 years later I would have it sitting on one of my work tables; it stores woolen yarns as I have begun to learn how to knit.
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 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
Sep 6, 2012 | Latest Art Projects, Showing Off, Tlingit Culture Accentuated |
Just finished this collage directly at high noon today. It’s a part of my ongoing series of mixed-media collages started in 2001 – this one is “Tlingit World Series #099”
This collage is part of an international exhibit commemorating 100 years of Collage art (1912 – 2012) featuring collage artists from the world over opening on Friday, September 14th at the International Museum of Collage, Assemblage and Construction in Pagosa Springs, Colorado. This exhibit is curated by Cecil Touchon, director of the Museum. For information on the exhibit, visit the blog spot. For more information on the museum, to become a contributor and to view a few of the artists’ work, click here.
Stay tuned; I’ll post photographs of the exhibit opening after September 14th!
Aug 17, 2012 | Latest Art Projects, Tlingit Culture Accentuated, To Market To Market |
Clarissa Rizal’s button blanket images on greeting cards – 6 of the 9 images above include L to R: “Following Our Ancestor’s Trail”, “The Greater Nature”, “Wrestling With Angels”, “Step Into the Light”, “Owl Woman” and “Emergence”
Twenty years ago we hand-printed silkscreened greeting cards with 9 different images based on button blankets I had designed and created. Although not hand-printed this time, I am reviving the set of button blanket greeting cards; they will be available for sale at the Santa Fe Indian Market the weekend of August 18 & 19th, and by September 1st, they will be available for sale as a set of 9 cards for $35 on my website under “Shop and Buy.”
Late at night, the cards all organized and ready to fold with an envelope
I am fortunate to have friends available to help stuff the card/envelope into the clear plastic sleeves; it was a mid-day party! – the sleeves are a very nice clean, clear quality from www.clearbags.com
This clear, acrylic card rack holds 9 cards either horizontally or vertically – the card rack is also purchased from www.clearbags.com for about $68 includes shipping.
