KXLL

The biennial Sharing Our Knowledge: A Conference of Tlingit Tribes and Clans is in Sitka this year. This year’s focus is on healing. pic.twitter.com/zQa9ca087D

— Scott Burton (@sburtonsound) October 14, 2017

Sharing Our Knowledge: A Conference of Tlingit Tribes and Clans took place in Sitka over the weekend. The biennial conference began in 1993 as a way to document customs and traditions and includes lectures, ceremonies, and hands-on art and technology demonstrations.

This year’s gathering, at the historic Sheldon Jackson College campus, was scheduled to coincide with Alaska Day celebrations.

On the the front lawn, participants hurled spears at an elk target using Alaska Native spearthrowing boards.

Inside, master weavers and aspiring artists’ fingers spidered across Chilkat and Raven’s Tail-style works.

“I’m weaving again!” said Liana Wallace who was among the weavers gathering sitting in a large, windowed foyer. Abundant natural light illuminated a welcoming smile and her work.

“I’m from Juneau. I’m Aak’w Kwáan from the Big Dipper house,” said Wallace who admitted she hadn’t woven in some time.

“I’ve been inspired by my sisters who are all weaving in honor of our teacher,” she said referring to the late master weaver and multi-disciplinary artist Clarissa Rizal.

“And so I am working with Lily, her daughter, and I’m working with Irene, her sister. And yes, it makes it more powerful to begin again,” said Wallace.

Elsewhere on campus, scholars and experts presented with titles like “Tlingit-Russian Interpreters Before and After 1867,” “Misconceptions about Alaska Natives,” and “The Seward Pole: Indigenous Claims in Alaska’s Sesquicentennial.”

Jixeik, or Gerry Hope, is the conference’s Executive Director. He’s Sik’nax.ádi from Wrangell. He said that he and the organizing committee decided to schedule this year’s symposium now, just before Alaska Day. For Hope, it’s been a long time coming.

#SharingOurKnowledge ED Jixeik Gerry Hope says in the Native community there is hurt, pain, frustration and anger about events of #AlaskaDay pic.twitter.com/rWQxNUrTc6

— Scott Burton (@sburtonsound) October 15, 2017

“As a child growing up here, born and raised, who doesn’t like a parade? … Parades encourage fun and happiness and that’s hard to resist. As I got older into my young adulthood is when I started hearing some of the frustrations, some of the anger, and some of the resentment,” said Hope.

“I have had for quite some time negative feelings about the holiday,” said Kaasáank’ Andrew C. Williams, who was among the conference presenters.

“It’s associated to the defeat of our people in this area. It’s associated to an idea that it’s OK to take control of somebody else’s stuff as long as you have the latest technology to stomp them down and control of the history of those people,” said Williams.

Kaasáank’ Andrew C. Williams on #AlaskaDay It’d be like you selling my car. Story soon @KTOOpubmedia #SharingOurKnowledge pic.twitter.com/P7nsVsVLP5

— Scott Burton (@sburtonsound) October 15, 2017

Executive Director Jixeik Gerry Hope has ideas for how healing for Williams’ negative feelings might begin.

“If I were to see a vision, it would be a number of things. One is acknowledgements from the dominant society that wrongs were committed against the first people. Another outcome that I’d like to see is a healthy dialogue in how we proceed from that. It doesn’t have to be demands. It doesn’t have to be any necessarily big news events that are conflict based. … As long as it is constructive and safe, and health-based,” said Hope.

That fits with the this year’s conference theme, “Our History, We Are Healing Ourselves.”

The Canadian electronic dance music group A Tribe Called Red, performs Thursday at Centennial Hall with Woosh.ji.een Dance Group. The indigenous DJ collective combines traditional Pow Wow songs with elements of hip-hop to promote inclusivity and representation of First Nations peoples.

A Tribe Called Red’s DJ Bear Witness, says the electronic dance music group is more than just two guys switching off on turntables.

“There’s a live element to it as well as live visuals going on that speak to the same idea of representation and misrepresentation of indigenous people through the media and kind of showing these images in a different light, a light that you can have fun with or that you can laugh at but that’s also very confronting at the same time,” said Bear Witness.

The group travels with their own dancers, but also involves both street and traditional style dancers from the indigenous communities they visit.

“Again, this idea of representation, how we want to show ourselves, how we want to be seen and seeing that kind of participation at a show for me is always really exciting, you know, to really watch indigenous people own the space,” said Bear Witness.

Thursday they will be joined by Juneau’s own Woosh.ji.een Dance Group.

“The most exciting thing is watching people have that type of shared experience of listening to music, dancing together, you know when you’re talking about issues between indigenous people and settler people within North America, finding that common ground of civil conversation together is really difficult. So in this really kind of unexpected way of people from all backgrounds can come and enjoy our music, enjoy what is essentially an indigenous experience together and start to create a new experience, and you’re a step closer to finding that common ground,” said Bear Witness. 

See a Tribe Called Red presented by Sealaska Heritage, Juneau Arts and Humanities Council with KXLL Juneau Thursday  at 7 at Centennial Hall. Get tickets at the door or online at JAHC.org.

An Alaska music group called Indian Agent has a new album out that uses electronic music to highlight historic atrocities committed against indigenous peoples.  The album “Meditations in the Key of Red” is out now on Homeskillet Records.

Indian Agent’s first single “Life keeps on spinning” opens with lush soundscapes and deep grooves. The lyrics allude to a growing awareness and ideological shift.  

It’s the latest release from Tlingit and Unangax̂ artist Yéil Ya-Tseen, also known as Nicholas Galanin. He’s joined by Zach Wass who also plays guitar in Silver Jackson and Seattle artist OC Notes. Indian Agent’s debut album is called “Meditations in The Key of Red.”

“Red is reference to indigeneity, red is reference to anger, reference is to love,” said Galanin. 

Historically, Indian agents were government officials, who Galanin said carried out colonial agendas in the United States and Canada, banning ceremonial practices. Galanin said the group’s name Indian Agent and the album are an opportunity to educate through their music and art.

“It was also an opportunity to reverse those ideas and roles and resist against it, I suppose, with our song, with our dance, with our strength and our words are empowerment,” he said. 

On their song “Can you hang” there’s a refrain: “We won’t applaud your history.” Galanin said the song is about the curriculum taught in our education system, the national holidays that are celebrated, and the values displayed by our monuments.

“We’re familiar with the history and a lot of it’s not OK,” Galanin said. “A lot of it’s ugly and nasty, a lot of it’s rape and murder and all of these things. You can’t make it look nice with a bronze statue.”

Recent history was also an influence. The song “Dakota” was written in response to last year’s Dakota Access pipeline protests. The track captures the conflict and unrest at Standing Rock, and includes audio samples recorded on the ground by members of his artist collective Winter Count.

To Galanin, the idea that humans can own land is a myth, instead we belong to the land. It’s a theme throughout these recordings.

Yup’ik musician Stephen Qacung Blanchett of the band Pamyua joins the album in “We move lightly on land and on sea.”

“It’s a reference to our care, our respect that we have for place and the ocean and how powerful the land actually is and how powerful the sea is,” Galanin said. “And we have care for that and we understand through subsistence and through hunting and being out there with it. And the opposite side of that spectrum is complete lack of care and disrespect for it.” 

At the end, Blanchett sings in Yup’ik,“My people I come before you, singing our song and dancing.” It comes from a traditional entrance song protocol.

The album ends with a the track “Mother,” featuring a visceral and unsettling performance from the internationally renowned Inuit throat singer Tanya Tagaq. The release also includes appearances from Tlingit composer Ed Littlefield, and hip-hop producer and Macklemore collaborator Budo, among others.

“Meditations in the Key of Red” is a marriage of electronics, vibrant percussion and acoustic instruments. It’s collaborative and experimental, layers of story and sound, and some of Galanin’s most cohesive work. 

Alex Kotlarsz performed for us in the KTOO arts room Thursday as part of our Red Carpet Concert series. Listeners may know Kotlarsz from The Wool Pullers, his solo performances, or as Alex K. and the Unmentionables.

You can catch Alex K. and the Unmentionables live at 10 p.m. Friday at McGivney’s in the valley. Stay tuned for more Red Carpet Concerts as we celebrate New Member Month here at KTOO. Next week we feature Laura Zahasky, Josh Lockhart, Jason Cornish, Sarah Jane Klinger and Jeff Bowman.

More than 30 artists, children and crafters got together this past weekend for an open studio gathering at the Juneau Arts and Culture Center. 

It was the second monthly Artists of All Nations event put together by the Juneau Arts and Humanities Council.

The Artists of All Nations events are a result of the JAHC’s Diversity and Inclusion Task Force, which responded to Alaska Native artists’ desire to create art as a collective experience.

“Most of the Native artists that I know, including myself, work in community,” says program facilitator and JAHC and KTOO board member Debra O’Gara. “We’re trying to set up just a community space where people can come in, work on their projects, but also view what other people are doing and get ideas and inspiration for not just for your project, that you’re working on, but also give inspiration and ideas to somebody else.”

Open to all artists and mediums, activity included both Raven’s Tail and Chilkat weaving, beadwork, carving, needle point, painting, coloring and mixed media.

Juneau artist and University of Alaska Southeast professor Abel Ryan worked on a bas relief carved plaque, which is part of a commission with two rings that feature a of formline whale design.

Ryan said the art form is at least 1,000 years old, “It’s a lot of fun to learn how to do and it’s easy to get lost when composing the designs.”

Juneau painter and 2017 JAHC juried art show “Best In Show” winner Pua Mauna worked with water color and pen and ink at her first Artists of All Nations.

“It’s a great space and I love meeting all the artists here and seeing what they’re doing,” Maunu said. “It’s very inspirational.

Juneau artist Alfie Price sewed patches to his “Rock and Roll Battle Vests.” Made from old jean jackets, his designs are adorned with patches from favorite bands, political statements or personal messages that represent the wearer.

Price usually sources his denim on eBay or hunts for them at local thrift stores.

He said the older the better, “If they’re kind of worn in they look a lot cooler, and they’re more comfortable.

The next Artists of All Nations gathering takes place Sunday, Oct. 22 at the JACC.

Kindred Post, a post office, gift shop and gathering space in downtown Juneau, has selected 10 art submissions to print on 1,000 postcards. The selections are from around the state, and from a diversity of artists.

It does not take long to realize Kindred Post is a little different from the average post office. The store’s sidewalk sandwich board reads: stamps, boxes, shipping services, handmade and Alaskan made gifts and good vibes. An image of a woman wearing an American flag hijab that reads “We The People” is in the storefront, and just inside is a hoodie that reads “Social Justice Hustle.”

“So when we first started Kindred Post I’d had this dream to fill it with local art,” said artist and writer Christy Namee Eriksen has owned the business for 3 years.

Beyond post officey stuff, it’s known for selling artful jewelry, happening First Friday art gatherings and “Tiny Post Office” concerts. Still,

“People come here every day to buy postcard stamps and they’re always looking for postcards,” said Eriksen.

Eriksen had already tapped some of Juneau’s usual suspects for art, so a contest seemed in order. Two hundred and fifty submissions came in between July and August.

Among the 10 winners is Tom Chung, who teaches art at the University of Alaska Anchorage.

“The image is of myself riding shirtless on this moose in front of the backdrop of an Alaskan wilderness,” Chung said.

“I don’t see representations very often of Asian males, and so I use myself because it’s a little bit of an act of rebelling and I guess that I believe I live in a culture that says I am not desirable or not beautiful, and so I place myself in these sort of images of desirability or masculinity to kind of rebel against that,” said Chung.

Crystal Worl is a Juneau-based mixed media artist and business owner that works in paint and fashion design. Her piece, “White Raven,” is also among the winners.

“I like to acknowledge my Tlingit side using formline, and then I also like to acknowledge my Athabascan side through putting beadwork, floral patterns in my paintings,” said Worl.

“This one has a seaweed pattern that looks like a growing stem. …. There’s a moon below Raven. You get the feeling that you’re looking up into the sky at Raven, and this is coming down and it feels also like you’re under water,” said Worl.

Additional winning images include a humpback whale in watercolor, a fox under the aurora, an image of a hand-embroidered umbrella. Some of the winning artists’ names are recognizable, some not — including Zoey Lam’s marker drawing of a large green dinosaur-like beast sort of hugging the Kindred Post store.

Having a diversity of artists is important to store owner Eriksen who studied social justice in college and co-founded a poetry slam in Juneau that is known for inclusiveness and empowering voice.

“I had a equity clause built into the competition. So we wanted to prioritize artists who have otherwise have had social marginalization, and maybe not have had as much access to artistic opportunities as others,” said Eriksen.

Eriksen, her staff and other community members judged.

“So we would give preference to artists who self-identified as either a woman, LGBTQ, a person of color, or an indigenous person, artists who are experiencing a developmental disability, or just a disability,” said Eriksen.

“I thought that was really great, I noticed that,” said Chung. “And we were allowed to write a little comment with our submission and I wrote I am a gay person of color that also lives with a disability. And it’s not just I guess to give a leg up to people that might need a little more encouraging, but also being inclusive to all sorts of diversity it expands the range of viewpoints that can be shared.”

I asked Eriksen why social justice and equity are important, and a part of her business.

“Our success is tied to the success of our neighborhood, of our city, of our community,” Eriksen said. “And so if you have that type of commitment to the place or the people that you belong to, then the question for me would be why would you not be committed to social justice? Why would you not want to raise up and work towards equality for all of its members?”

One thousand of the printed cards will be released at Kindred Post on Oct. 1.