Oct 19, 2013 | Class Act, North Tide, Showing Off, Tlingit Culture Accentuated |
Della Cheney and Percy Kunz demonstrates cedar bark weaving at the Weavers’ Gathering demonstration during the Clan Conference in Juneau, 2009
Once again, the Clan Conference will convene in Juneau at Centennial Hall Thursday, Friday and Saturday, November 7, 8, & 9th. This is a time of shared and gained educational experiences from the Native and/or collegiate perspective. For more information on the details of the Clan Conference and a listing of the lectures, please click here to visit the website. or click here for the Juneau Empire’s announcement of the Clan Conference.
Chilkat, Ravenstail, Cedar bark and Spruce root weavers will gather together in the lobby of Centennial Hall for the entire three days, 10am to 4pm to share their knowledge. In 2009, the presentation was a big hit, we’ve been asked to demonstrate again. Click here to see past photos of the weavers’ demonstration.
We welcome weavers to join us and participate in this fun endeavor! Contact Clarissa Rizal or Lily Hope if you are interested!
Sep 14, 2013 | Adventures of Rear-Mirror Rissy, Class Act, Tlingit Culture Accentuated |
Balls of Chilkat warp and bundles of split cedar enjoy a great view from the upper deck of the KVI Beach House in Vashon Island, Washington State
While standing inside the dining room window, I shot this image of Melissa and Sue – two strong-willed, organized, power-packed women who are still busy doing business while we make an effort to relax at this wonderful beach house retreat!
Sue Shotridge insisted that she, Mellisa Rinehart and I take a two-day retreat to this wonderful beach house on Vashon. She INSISTED and she was PATIENT with my initial responses of “what for…?” She had to explain that I was an extreme “Type A” personality who after taking a three-month weaving tour at my age, needed a break. She also needed a break and she wanted to talk with Melissa and I about the logistics of hosting a week-long weaving retreat next year in September at this beach house. We relaxed while doing business. What a wonderful concept! I intend on conducting business this way more often!
Melissa and Sue take photos while heading down the hillside to the beach (just a couple of stones throw away from the house)…
KVI Beach House – from the beach
close up of KVI Beach House – from the beach…
Clarissa demonstrates to Melissa how to split and prepare the wool roving for spinning with cedar bark to create Chilkat warp
I taught Melissa how to spin her own warp so that a year from now when we do the weaving retreat, she will have enough warp to do a large project or several small ones. We spun while Sue took notes planning the weaving retreat.
Clarissa demonstrates how to groom balls of warp to Melissa, an attentive student indeed!
- A perfect stage for relaxing while spinning warp for our next weavings…!
Check out more photos and information of the KVI Beach House at: http://www.vrbo.com/408415
Stay tuned for an announcement about the Northwest Coast Weavers Retreat. Space is limited; first come first serve. We are gonna have a blast!
Sep 13, 2013 | Latest Art Projects, Ravens & Eagles, Showing Off, Tlingit Culture Accentuated |
Chilkat/Ravenstail headdress, double-sided Ravenstail vest, and Chilkat/Ravenstail handbag woven by Clarissa Rizal – 1989
My very first Chilkat piece was a small ghost face pouch woven in a week in 1983. A lousy weaver, I dare say that when I threw the thing against the window it just about cracked it! Nope I never show that one to nobody! Other than the one side of a pair of leggings that I wove with Jennie during our apprenticeship, and the Chilkat woven flap to a leather backpack, the three pieces above and the wall pouch below are my very first weavings before I wove my first Chilkat robe (Sea Grizzly 1999) and my first Ravenstail robe (Copper Woman’s robe woven in 1994).
“Father Cyril Bulashevich & St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church” Chilkat wall pocket woven by Clarissa Rizal – 1990 – private collection, Denver, Colorado
Though I have woven several small pieces not pictured here (or anywhere else for that matter), and I am a multi-tasker who has created other major pieces of art in a variety of mediums, the photos in this blog are all of my major weavings. This blog post is to honor my children and grand-children to whom I leave my legacy and especially today to my youngest child whose birthday is today; she is the one who created this website, who created and encouraged me to blog, and who still continues to be a level-headed side-kick.
“Sea Grizzly” Chilkat robe woven by Clarissa Rizal – 1999 – private collection, Vancouver, B.C.
“The Diamonds Robe” woven by Clarissa Rizal – 1997 – private collection, Juneau, Alaska
“Hauberg Raven” Chilkat robe woven by Clarissa Rizal – 2001 – private collection – Seattle, WA
“Copper Woman” 5-piece Ravenstail and Chilkat ensemble woven by Clarissa Rizal – 2001 – Collection of Anchorage Museum of History and Art, Anchorage, Alaska
“Copper Man” 6-piece Ravenstail and Chilkat ensemble woven by Clarissa Rizal – 2006 – private collection, Mercer Island, WA
“Copper Child” 4-piece Ravenstail ensemble woven by Lily Hope and Clarissa Rizal – 2009 – Collection of Sealaska Heritage Institute
“Jennie Weaves An Apprentice” Chilkat robe woven by Clarissa Rizal – 2011 – Private Collection, Los Angeles, CA
7-foot Ravenstail border for a button robe – 2013 – private collection, Vashon Island, WA
“Diving Whale Lovebirds” Chilkat robe woven by Clarissa Rizal – 2013 – private collection, New York, NY
Dancing of “Diving Whale Lovebirds” Chilkat robe by Clarissa Rizal – 2013
Pattern Board of “Resilience” Chilkat/Ravenstail robe designed by Clarissa Rizal – in the process of being woven; completion by June 2014 – commissioned by Portland Art Museum
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 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 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 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?
