Photographer Ben Huff discusses his travels to Adak and his process of making photographs for his solo artist exhibition, Atomic Island. The exhibit uses his own large-format color photographs, mixed with archival images from the Alaska State Library to show the psat and present of a forgotten island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
The Spirit Wraps Around You: Northern Northwest Coast Native Textiles brought together two dozen Chilkat and Ravenstail woven robes for the first time. To celebrate the robes, their histories, and their weavers at the end of the exhibit, members of a Southeast dance group donned a selection of the robes and danced them into the collections storage area at the Alaska State Museum.
Kathy Rado, adopted Haida Double-fin Killerwhale wove this sea otter fur raven’s tail robe for her husband, Pedro Rado (Eagle, Killerwhale from Klukwan). Rado has been weaving in the raven’s tail style for over 30 years. Raven’s tail is a very old hand-weaving technique featuring geometric patterns that predates the more familiar Chilkat robes. The geometric style died out in the early 1800s, and today, only a dozen early robes (or fragments thereof) exist in museums around the world. In the 1980s, Rado and other weavers learned the basic technique from Cheryl Samuel and started weaving them again. Rado’s first robe, One Within Another, was based on two surviving similar fur-warp robes currently located in a museum in Russia. Currently, Rado is preparing to weave another robe with sea otter warps. Rado will share the exciting adventure of the history of the making of One Within Another Robe and how this ancient technique of weaving with sea otter came to life almost two centuries after this style of weaving died out.
Curator of Collections Steve Henrikson discusses the history of northern Northwest Coast Native textiles featured in The Spirit Wraps Around You exhibit at the Alaska State Museum.
The Spirit Wraps Around You exhibit at the Alaska State Museum looks at the history of Northwest Coast weaving and features 24 Chilkat and Ravenstail robes. Artists, dancers, and the community welcome these robes to the Museum.
Author and photographer Amy Gulick discusses her book “The Salmon Way” – An inspiring look into the lives of Alaskans and salmon and how they intertwine.
