Aug 2, 2014 | Honoring Others, Tlingit Culture Accentuated |
Flanked by two Ravenstail robes woven by Shgen, Clarissa poses with Shgen George (center) and her daughter Gabby Kay at her first show opening during 1st Friday Gallery Walk, August 1st, 2014 at the Juneau Arts & Culture Center (JACC), Juneau, Alaska
Shgen George has been an elementary school teacher for at least 10 years; she carves out time from her other roles as mother, wife, mentor, teacher, and daughter to do her art – it isn’t easy! Like where do you find the time to do your art when there’s always student’s class assignments to check during the weekend!? She had an impressive showing of buttonrobes, Ravenstail robes, beaded, appliqued and woven Chilkat and Ravenstail octopus bags! Wow. Even I have never had a one-man show and I’ve been at this for nearly 40 years! — Click here for more information on Shgen and her show at the JACC during the month of August.
Shgen says that I am her mentor. (Really? Me?) I am not only her teacher of Chilkat, I am her mentor. I have never really considered myself a “mentor” – like what does that mean? Someone who knows a little more about life’s certain topics that shares it on a consistent basis with specific person(s). She says that I have inspired her tremendously and wants to do what I have done in my life. I have never had anyone else tell me this; I wonder if there are others who feel the same way? I had not ever considered myself as someone “to follow in their footsteps…” so to speak. I am 58 years old this year; I better get on the ball and take my position seriously. So I have given her some pointers on how to go about doing this: what to watch out for, the dedication, determination and drive of doing art to keep yourself sane while growing up and old all the while becoming more of a human being, and all the while balancing your life with your husband, your kids, your community, your health,…and of course, your other job!
A few years ago, when I saw Shgen’s astounding beadworked octopus bags, I told her that I had woven a couple of octopus bags, one Ravenstail, the other Chilkat. I encouraged her to weave octopus bags of all kinds, and why not!? Nobody’s doing it and it’s gotta be done and I’m too busy doing other weavings and works so it might as well be her! By golly, she’s done it!
Shgen too is part of Jennie Thlunaut’s legacy of a Chilkat weaver. I know Jennie would be proud of Shgen, her character, her talent and her works.
Congratulations Shgen!!! And Gunulcheesh to her husband, daughter, mother, father and other community members who have supported Shgen in her achievements!!!
Can we have an Amen!? Can we have a HOO-HAA!?
Jul 5, 2014 | Adventures of Rear-Mirror Rissy, North Tide, Tlingit Culture Accentuated |
Wolf and Eagle headdresses worn by the children of the KwaanlinDun First Nations during their performance
What is the Adaka Festival? And where the heck is Whitehorse, Yukon Territory? And why does Clarissa just talk about Yukon Territory all the time?
This child dancer with the mask and leather gloves danced like the old-timers going down with low bent knees and extended arms with hands fluttering: wow! Bought back memories of my elder teacher Harry K. Bremner, Sr. from Yakutat, Alaska
My oldest daughter Lily Hope and excellent carver friend William Callahan – one of the best young carvers in all of Yukon!
New Zealand Maori carver, singer, musician Lyonel Grant presented slides of his work – and Tahltan Tlingit carver Dempsey Bob with his granddaughter
William Callahan and the Smith/Walker family (Shawn, Ann and Brian)
Wayne Price tells the story behind the song he sang: the migration under the glaciers
My daughter Lily and the great uncle Wayne Price of Lily’s son, Louis…so does this mean I am related to Wayne? Hmmm….shoulda known!
Jul 4, 2014 | Class Act, North Tide, Tlingit Culture Accentuated |
Louise Baker pays attention to Lily Hope teaching Diane Knopp how to dress her next weaving project on the loom
Ann Smith and I taught our second weaving class together in Chilkat and Ravenstail weaving during the week-long Adaka Festival in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. Lily Hope assisted for four days (her first time being away from her family!).
Ann Smith drafts out pattern configuration for Ravenstail design
Ann Smith and I were two of Cheryl Samuel’s first students to learn Ravenstail back in 1989. Since then Ann has woven approximately 5 Ravenstail robes and numerous smaller weavings and has taught classes in Yukon and British Columbia. Ann was one of my first students in Chilkat weaving back in 1991; in fact, she inspired me to weave robes instead of weaving contemporary pieces of regalia. Only recently have I decided to incorporate weaving smaller items in my time line!
Clarissa demonstrates the fantastic fingering technique of her teacher/mentor Jennie Thlunaut. L to R: Dan Shorty, Stefanie Sakinya, Diane Knopp, Andra Hunter, Clarissa, Marge Baufeld, Louise Baker, Sally Lutchman, Charlene Baker
Most of the techniques and spiritual information I teach are directly from my apprenticeship with the last of the traditional master weavers, Jennie Thlunaut from Klukwan, Alaska who passed away in July 1986 two months after she taught me. All students who learn from me are a direct lineage of Jennie’s legacy, the most prolific Chilkat weaver of all time with 50 robes and 8 tunics.
Lily Hope demonstrates weaving techniques on Clarissa’s child-size Chilkat robe to visitors at the Adaka Festival
Lily Hope has been weaving Ravenstail for nearly 10 years. She started weaving Chilkat weaving 4 years ago when she was an assistant teacher during one of my classes in Juneau; little did anyone know that as she was “student teaching” she was for the first time learning how to weave Chilkat!!!
Louise Baker (Tagish) measures her warp for the child-size headband using Jennie Thlunaut’s old-time technique of cutting a piece of cardboard to the length of the project, wrapping the warp loosely but evenly around the board and then cutting one end, before hanging strands on the loom
The class is fairly full with 10 eager students
Lily demonstrates how to “dress” your loom
Ann helps Marge Beaufeld with her first braids while Nita Clarke whizzes away with happy anticipation of another weaving!
Charlene Baker (Whitehorse) shows Debra Michel (Atlin) the additional weaving she has on her loom – one is her first Chilkat weaving the other is her combination of Chilkat and Ravenstail (of which she is well versed).
Debra Michel weaves her second Chilkat weaving, a dance apron she designed…
Lily helps Zach James (Haines, AK) establish his first row of his Ravenstail pattern while Dan Shorty pays attention
Andra Hunter and her mother, Sally Lutchman contemplate what to do next
Stefanie Sakinya Sidney has begun another weaving project on the other side of her loom…!
Ann Smith (with her granddaughter) have fun with Nita Clarke – (let’s face it people, Chilkat and Ravenstail weaving is a lot of work, but it’s fun work!)
Ann reminds the weavers to be mindful of keeping their “stitches” even
Stefanie, Zach, Lily Sharon and Louise
L to R back row: Debra Michel, Charlene Baker, Diane Knopp, Sharon Shorty, Carver Dempsey Bob, Marge Beaufeld, Nita Clarke – Front row: Clarissa Rizal, Ann Smith, Louise Baker (missing: Lily Hope, Zach James, Sally Lutchman, Andra Hunter)
I am totally impressed with the commitment and dedication of the Yukon weavers. It is quite an honor for us to teach weavers who are eager to learn and eager to create more dance regalia for their family, friends and community members. This experience has been an instructor’s dream. And I know it was Jennie’s dream come true as well. She was the last traditional weaver; imagine how she must have felt! Imagine what she would feel if she were to see the number of wanna-be-weavers that have come out of the woodwork to dedicate themselves to a life-long learning process! I know only a small fraction of what she would feel; it has brought me to my knees with gratitude and compassion to be a part of Jennie’s legacy – to be a part of the traditional Chilkat weavers’ legacy and to be a part of this present-day legacy of this younger generation who will carry this forward. Can I have an Amen!? Can I have a Hoo-haa!
Looking through the class window at Clarissa’s yellow “Chilkat mobile” in the parking lot of the KwanlinDun Cultural Center in Whitehorse, Yukon
Thank you to Charlene Alexander, Executive Director of the Adaka Festival (in it’s 4th year), who coordinated another year of this amazing event and once again has invited us to teach weaving! Thank you to all the weavers who came out to learn more about our traditional weaving styles; Gunalcheesh!
Jun 14, 2014 | Adventures of Rear-Mirror Rissy, Honoring Others, Relationship Overdrive, Tlingit Culture Accentuated |
Clarissa with Donna Cranmer (Alert Bay, B.C.) and Ann Smith (Whitehorse, Yukon) at the Sealaska Art Fair during Celebration 2014, Juneau Alaska — Louis Hope receives a pair of mukluks
There was a core group of us weavers, like little more than a handfull who were weaving Chilkat back in the late 80’s; some of those women were Canadian, some were Alaskan — didn’t matter, we were all related somehow! They included Ernestine Hanlon, Suzi Williams, Anna Brown Ehlers, Irene Jimmy, Ann Smith, Donna Cranmer, and myself. There were not very many of us back then; not like today. (I apologize if I forgot to include you!)
It was sure good to meet up with Donna and Ann; we all hadn’t seen one another in 13 years! From 1992 to 2001, we would have Indigenous Weavers’ Gatherings once or twice a year; they began with our hostess Ernestine Hanlon in 1992 in Hoonah – from there we organically grew…a weaver would host a gathering in her home in her home town…we hosted them in Juneau, Haines, Sitka, Alert Bay, Prince Rupert, etc….and it’s been so long, I forget where else!
It’s a darn good thing I blog else I’d forget what I’ve done and where I’ve been and who’ve I done whatever I did where and when! It’s really hard to keep up with myself!
May 9, 2014 | Latest Art Projects, Ravens & Eagles, Tlingit Culture Accentuated |
Clarissa Rizal finishes weaving the ANB (Alaska Native Brotherhood) and ANS (Alaska Native Sisterhood) logos.
Weaving an average of 9 hours per day for the past 5 months, Clarissa must deliver this robe to Portland Art Museum staff members in Juneau during SHI’s biennial “Celebration” this mid-June.
Clarissa begins weaving the (SHI) Sealaska Heritage Institute’s logo (bottom center)
Read about Clarissa’s design description of this robe is in a previous blog entry: http://www.clarissarizal.com/blogblog/?p=2914
Clarissa’s progression of the Sealaska Heritage Institute’s logo in the “tail” of the overall design of the robe.
May 2, 2014 | Latest Art Projects, North Tide, Ravens & Eagles, Tlingit Culture Accentuated |
Ursala;s Graduation cap
Our family has “style.” We are very much into creating our own style of dress, decor, language, etc. My parents were both very stylish and so are my kids. So when Ursala said she wanted to paint her graduation cap to wear during the Ft. Lewis College ceremony, how could I be surprised?
Clarissa Rizal quickly sketches the design for her daughter’s graduation cap
Apr 17, 2014 | Latest Art Projects, Ravens & Eagles, Tlingit Culture Accentuated |
Clarissa Rizal and apprentice Teahonna James – April 15, 2014
It’s nerve-wracking to weave a Chilkat robe in a total of 5 months, absolutely nerve-wracking. Though when I have a student who lives an hour from me who is willing to make the drive and sleep in my studio to learn how to weave, that is a real plus for me to make the deadline — and of course, it’s a plus for her because she gets to learn how many tricks-of-the-trade and how to weave a robe! So the trade is perfect for both of us!
Teahonna James has shown a great dedication to herself and I in learning how to weave Chilkat. She is totally committed, has a sense of balance and organizational skills and is a talented “expert” in weaving….but I’m not going to tell her that so we can avoid getting big-headed about it! %^} I appreciate having the gift of apprentices who squeeze Chilkat weaving in between the lines! Recent apprentices Crystal Rogers and Vanessa Morgan are two others who do this too.
There are several other apprentices too from the distant past who have become strong weavers and teachers in their own communities. I know my mentor and teacher of Chilkat, Jennie Thlunaut would be proud of them too. There is a sense of peace knowing that I fulfilled my promise to Jennie; there is a sense of pride with the students knowing they are a major part of that promise.
Thank you, Teahonna; I appreciate you making the time and effort to come over the past couple of weekends to assist me in gettingerdun!
Apr 1, 2014 | Health and Wellness, Honoring Others, Relationship Overdrive, Tlingit Culture Accentuated, Uncategorized |
Cheap Chilkat weaving in colors of red (a taboo), black, turquoise and cream — by Clarissa Rizal 1985
30 years ago, when there were less than a handful of weavers, I thought I’d try my hand at Chilkat weaving without an instructor. I wove this Chilkat sampler using cheap clothesline for warp and commercial 4-ply black, turquoise, cream and red (a taboo) weft yarns. Instead of using the traditional yellow, I thought red would be nifty because the rest of our traditional artwork uses these same colors, so why not?
According to a Chilkat weaving elder from Haines, Alaska, the late Maria Ackerman Miller warned me not to use red in the weaving because it signifies the weaver as being egotistical. Both Maria and the late Jennie Thlunaut said weavers only use red for example in the tongue of a wolf.
Cotton clothesline used as warp for a Chilkat sampler by Clarissa Rizal — 1985
I have never publicly shown this weaving until now. I’ve hidden it for 30 years and it is now coming out of the closet. I have reasons for this. I want to show an example of one of my very first attempts at Chilkat weaving, where I didn’t have some one to help “show me the way” nor receive proper instruction on using fine, traditional materials or to teach me the taboos…yet (not until my apprenticeship with Jennie Thlunaut the following year in 1986). I show this sampler here also to show any beginner students of Chilkat weaving to have compassion for self as you learn the intricacies of weaving in this style; you WILL become a better weaver — a few of us start out as perfect weavers, others like myself do not! Not until last year have I felt like I know what I am doing in Chilkat weaving… 30 years later! hello!
I also wanted to show my tendency to get a big head, especially when I was younger!
Teachings such as the ones I received from Maria Miller Ackerman and Jennie Thlunaut are invaluable; they help keep us on the right “spiritual” path. Our elders will tell us many things we do not understand, though we have the respect to follow through with their words and their example without question. In our culture, we do not ask the question “why?” A respectful Native (or non-Native) person will heed an elder’s lead.
It is good to be humbled now and then. Sometimes we do get big-headed; we forget the words of our Native mentors, though there are things that bring us back to “who we are.”
Mar 29, 2014 | Latest Art Projects, Ravens & Eagles, Showing Off, Tlingit Culture Accentuated |
The three marks above the Sealaska Corporation logo…Clarissa Rizal
The top of the shared head and beaks of the “Eagle” and “Raven” of the Sealaska Corporation logo — by Clarissa Rizal
Almost completion of the shared eye of the “Eagle” and “Raven”, Sealaska Corporation logo — by Clarissa Rizal
Mar 17, 2014 | Latest Art Projects, Ravens & Eagles, Tlingit Culture Accentuated |
A 1/4 slice of the “Resilience” Chilkat robe as of Friday, March 14, 2014 – woven by Clarissa Rizal
One of the most important challenges a Chilkat weaver encounters on a daily basis is creating the balancing act of the following: taking care of other business (personal & business), making time with family, main relationship and friends, and making time for our health and well-being. The past week has been challenging. I just want to make sure I get the next section of weaving done (the Sealaska Corporation logo) by next weekend. However, I’ve spent a day preparing for and partaking in a birthday for a grand-daughter, spent a day supporting a friend in a medical challenge, spent a day recouperating from both events, and spent another day dealing with the insurance/registration/wheels of a car, insurance/mortgage on the house, figuring out how to replace the washer machine when we don’t have the finances for another, attending a conference call and placing orders online for supplements. That’s four days of no weaving; that is most frustrating when I am pressed with a deadline to complete this robe on time!
In the world of Chilkat weaving we just have to take a deep breath knowing fully well the robe will get done in time and say to ourselves: C’est la vie!
