NEA National Fellowship Awardees on You Tube

Here’s the link to watch the nine 2016 NEA Fellowship Awardees perform/present their work on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDVckQQ-LtM

It’s about 2 hours long.  With my entourage, Darlene See, Donna Beaver, Irene Lampe and I are on at about 1:40 in the link (though I have watched the entire video clip)!

Watch Clarissa’s NEA’s Award Performance Livestream

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Clarissa models her latest Chilkat robe “Egyptian Thunderbird” at Eagle River Beach in Juneau, Alaska (Hmmm…Clarissa’s hair is the same color as the beaver fur trim and don’t you  just love her “Raven” ears!) — photo by NEA photographer, Tom Pich

Click on this link to see your open invitation to the general public for the NEA Heritage Fellowship concert:  2016-heritage-ceremony-invitation   

As part of the award ceremonies during the week of September 25-30, 2016, the NEA National Heritage Fellowships Concert will be on Friday, September 30, 2016.  For those who are not in Washington, D.C. area, the event will be streamed live at arts.gov.   If you are in Washington, D.C. area, the Friday night presentations/concert is wide open to the public. Feel free to pass this information along to your family and friends who aren’t able to be in DC that day.

Each of the 9 awardees will be doing an 8-minute presentation of their work.  I will be doing a brief presentation on preparing the cedar bark and wool, then spinning, then weaving.  Then the last 4 or 5 minutes, Irene Jean Lampe, Donna Beaver Pizzarelli and Darlene See will be joining me on stage to present some of my latest robes (and of course, the Weavers Across the Waters robe will be one of those robes, worn by Donna), along with an historical robe care-taken by my sister Irene.  To provide the audience (far and wide) an idea of how the robes are used, the four of us will be singing/dancing a song composed and written many, many years ago by our T’akDeinTaan clan member Kloon’eesh (John K. Smith).

An Award Winner at SHI’s Juried Art Show 2016

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Clarissa Rizal’s 5-piece dance ensemble “Chilkat Child” wins Best of Weavings category at the Sealaska Heritage Institute’s Juried Art Show — Below the ensemble is Clarissa’s daughter, Lily Hope’s Chilkat dance apron — June 2016

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Surrounded by a painting by Alison Bremner, a carved and painted dance stafff by Archie Cavanaugh, Clarissa Rizal’s button robe “Northwest by Southwest II” wins Best of Sewing category at the Sealaska Heritage Institute’s Juried Art Show — June 2016

 

“Northwest By Southwest II” Buttonrobe

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A very similar version of the original robe of the same name minus the #2 of “Northwest By Southwest II” button robe, recently completed by Clarissa Rizal

This is a photo of the original buttonrobe entitled “Northwest by Southwest” made in 1999.  This is my most favorite button robe I’ve ever designed and made.  This past summer, my son-in-law gave me some of the same background fabric that he found while searching for blankets on eBay.   This same fabric I bought nearly 30 years ago in Santa Fe, New Mexico,  so I was absolutely thrilled to have enough to make a second “NW x SW” button robe, hence the name “NW x SW II…!”

Clarissa irons "NW x SW II" button robe with her brand new "Rowenta" Steamer Iron

Catch a close-up of the fabric detail as Clarissa irons “NW x SW II” button robe with her brand new “Rowenta” Steamer Iron

If you are interested in purchasing this robe, just give me a holler!  I will have this robe available for sale at the Clan Conference in Juneau next weekend, October 28-November 1st.  If a happy buyer does not snatch it up during the conference, I will have it available for viewing and sale at the Haa Shagoon Gallery in Juneau.  Remember:  Christmas is coming!

Huna Totem Canoe Jacket

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With hecklers from the side line, Ozzie Sheakley sports a “sporty” jacket with the 40-year anniversary design of a canoe with images of the 4 main clans from Hoonah, Alaska. Designed by Clarissa Rizal — photo by Deanna Lampe

I rarely wear these type of sporty jackets made of synthetic materials.  I am spoiled with the wool jackets made by Woolrich or Pendleton.  Remember the halibut jackets that were worn by all the cannery workers here in Alaska?  And later on the Pendleton company started coming out with their fancy, lined Pendleton jackets and coats.  That’s more my style.  However, a jacket that has this cool image on it make me want to spend $250!

Santa Fe Indian Market Time

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Wearing a Tammy Beauvois “beaded” dress and a pair of Chilkat armbands that she wove, Clarissa stands between her Chilkat curtains (she designed and printed), with her latest Chilkat robe behind her on the loom below “An Ocean Runs Through Us” Limited Edition Giclee triptych print – Photo by Juli Ferrerra

I had never heard of the Santa Fe Indian Market until August 1987; it was the first time I had seen so much fantastic art in all my life.  One of the first booths I had seen was the Alaskan gal Denise Wallace’s jewelry; of course there was a huge crowd around her booth like no one else’s because her astounding jewelry was like none other.  She was and still is, a celebrity.

Northwest Coast Native Tlingit artist Clarissa Rizal with Julia White from the Tulsa Artist Residency

Northwest Coast Native Tlingit artist Clarissa Rizal with Julia White from the Tulsa Artist Residency

The market opens early Saturday at 7am for those art collectors who are racing for that prize possession and enthusiasts who want to get ahead of the crowd.  I had heard several people from a number of institutions came by my booth that early but I was not available.  Directly after I spent 2 hours setting up my booth, directly at 7 I had to pick up my “Chilkat Child” who I had entered into the Juried Art Show; it took about an hour of waiting in line.  However, I was able to catch Julia White, the coordinator of the Tulsa Artist Residency, from which I was one of 12 artists across the nation who was chosen as a recipient of their inaugural residency fellowship to live and work in Tulsa, Oklahoma for a year.

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Full view of Clarissa Rizal’s booth (day 2)  at the Santa Fe Indian Market 2015

I did my very first Santa Fe Indian Market in 1994 winning the Best of Show with my “Following My Ancestor’s Trail” button blanket wall mural which sold to a collector from Tuscon, Arizona.  I won about $5K in awards, sold my load of button blanket greeting cards featuring 9 of my favorite robes, and sold a Ravenstail headdress.  I walked away with a chunk of change; it was enough to put a down payment on a house!

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Left side of Clarissa Rizal’s booth at the Santa Fe Indian Market 2015, featuring “Northwest by Southwest” button blanket robe surrounded by Giclee prints, and clothing/ceremonial regalia for children

The Santa Fe Indian Market is a zoo; it draws about 100,000 visitors from all over the world for the week before and after the Market.  Lots of traffic jams in Santa Fe during this time.  I don’t understand how artists can do this show every year.  I cannot do this show every year.  It takes me about 4 years to re-couperate which is why this is only the 5th time I have been an artist vendor at the market.  It’s a lot of work to prepare for the market, then we gotta set up at 5am to 7am when the market opens.  And when the day is done at 5pm, we gotta strike the set and pack it up, only to do the same thing the next day.  It doesn’t sound like much, but believe me, it IS!

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Right side of Clarissa Rizal’s booth at the Santa Fe Indian Market 2015 featuring “Egyptian Thunderbird” button robe surrounded by Limited Edition Giclee and hand-silkscreened prints and the 5-piece Chilkat woven ensemble “Chilkat Child” all by Clarissa Rizal

I had a good time at this market.  It was the first time my booth faced the sunshine; I think that is why I enjoyed this year better than all the other years.  You see, when I come from a grey, damp place like Juneau, Alaska and land in the arid country of Santa Fe, New Mexico, it naturally puts a smile in my body.  Many of us Tlingits know what I experience!

And yes, all the items you see in these photos of my booth at the market are for sale, except the white curtains and the chilkat robe on the loom.   I invite you to contact me for prices and more information.

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Cousins Likoodzi and Violet

Another pleasant aspect of this year’s Indian Market included being with my kids and grandchildren during the week.  There’s nothing like being a grandma.  And though I am not a great grandmother, I am learning how to become one…!

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Israel Shotridge, Preston Singletary, Sue Shotridge (obscured) and Clarissa Rizal talk definition of a mentor – photo by Kahlil Hudson

The night before the market, several Tlingit artists gathered together for a dinner at my son’s house in Santa Fe.  We were discussing the logistics of creating a mentorship program for our artists back home, based on New Zealand’s Maori artists.  We asked ourselves enough questions, like “What does it mean to be a mentor?  How do you know you are a mentor?  What are the expectations of self as a Mentor and expectations from the apprentice?

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Kahlil holds daughter Violet while the little old man “Hassie” runs amok!

There are many events sponsored by other organizations outside of SWAIA’s (Southwest Association of Indian Arts) annual Indian Market, including an offspring of the Indian Market called IFAM which takes place for two days at the “Railyard”; there’s an artist supply market at the El Dorado Hotel de Santa Fe; there’s Dorothy Grant’s fashion show and of course, numerous gallery openings!

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The 2015 Institute of American Indian Arts Scholarship Dinner and Auction

The Institute of American Indian Arts Scholarship Gala is held the Wednesday before the Santa Fe Indian Market (Saturday & Sunday); the place is packed with prominent artists, arts organizations across the country including representatives from NMAI (National Museum of the American Indian), NACF (Native Arts & Culture Foundation), art historians and collectors.  I was invited by NACF to be a guest at their table since I had recently won this year’s fellowship.

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Who were these people who shared a delicious meal at the IAIA Gala dinner table?

Nearly 22 years ago when I first had a booth at the Santa Fe Indian Market, the only Northwest Coast artist represented was a totem pole carver, Reggie Petersen from Sitka, Alaska.  He said he had been doing the market for nearly 20 years with no other comrades from the Northwest except clothing designer, the late Betty David, and he was so happy to finally see “another Tlingit!”  Although we had never met, he hugged me as if I were the last person on earth!  lol.  His wife, 4 children and he would make it an annual sojourn where they would take the ferry from Sitka to Seattle, then drive to Santa Fe and back again.  He always had a log that he was carving smack dab in the middle of the Santa Fe Plaza.  He said this was one of the ways in which he received commissions for totem poles.  Lots of work being a full-time artist with 4 children.

Haida basket weavers Diane Douglas-Willard, her daughter Jianna and Dolly Garza are vendors at the market too.  Diane says she has been a vendor at the Market for 20 consecutive years.

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Tlingit photographer Zoe Marieh Urness and her twin sister with a visitor at her IFAM booth BEFORE the Santa Fe Indian Market

One of the hardest things about being a vendor at the market is that I don’t have time to take a break and visit all the other artists let alone attend all the other activites such as the main-stage performances or the fashion show.  However, the day before Indian Market began, my daughter Lily and I took a jaunt over to the Railyard where the IFAM art show was happening.  We saw several Northwest Coast Native artists including Peter Boome and Zoe Marieh Urness!

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Coast Salish artist Peter Boome making a sale with customers at his IFAM booth

I admire the small city of Santa Fe for its unique architecture, dramatic style in clothing, furniture, jewelry — everything for that matter!  Even its people!  Check out the Trader Joe’s de Santa Fe!  Holy—now THERE’s a mixture of all kinds of folks in a middle-class store!  Simply entertaining to watch who shops there.

During the early morning of the first day of the Santa Fe Indian Market, a large group of young protestors marched through announcing their disagreement with the government continuing to pollute the Southwest environment and then lying about it.  I was surprised there was a demonstration yet proud that the younger generation has stepped up to the plate.  It is a good thing to bring awareness to the general public about atrocities to our human race and its well-being.

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Sure felt good to see demonstrators for a worthy cause during the opening day of the Santa Fe Indian Market

And then directly after the demonstration, there was this guy across my booth standing with a black, worn-out umbrella.  (He sure looked familiar! Lol.)  The sun wasn’t even at its hottest yet, though he was prepared for anything.  That’s the message for you folks today:  be prepared for anything!

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Is that Israel Shotridge under the umbrella on Palace Avenue in Santa Fe, New Mexico during the Indian Market

 

What To Do With Antler Bone

Dyed red antler bone carved into fish

Dyed red antler bone carved into fish

It’s been awhile back that I purchased these so I don’t recall where I bought these little, red, valuable trinkets cut from antler, dyed red, sawed into the shape of fish and then embellished with circles and lines using a dremel tool.  I figured I will use them one day for a button robe.  Have any of you seen these guys; if so, where?

Raven Buttonrobe Travels Russia

Raven Button robe is a collaboration of  designer Preston Singletary and sewer Clarissa Rizal

Raven Button robe is a collaboration of designer Preston Singletary and sewer Clarissa Rizal

A couple of years ago, I wanted to make some button robes, but I didn’t feel like designing them.  I guess I was just feeling lazy!  So I did what I’ve never done before – I asked another artist for designs!   I called up my friend Preston Singletary and asked him if he had any designs on hand that were suitable for button robes. He sent me two; one of the robes is now owned by Crystal Rogers Nelson and the other one is this one:  Raven.   Made with black and red wool melton cloth and some of the thousands of antique mother-of-pearl buttons I have been collecting for a good 25 years.  Little does Preston know that we are 2 of 11 Native American artists invited to submit something for an exhibit that is traveling Russia for over a year.

“Woven Together” is an exhibit intended to share a small part of Native American culture with Russians in the Urals. This will likely be the first exposure to Native American culture for many who visit the exhibit. Typically, the Consulate supports such artistic exchanges in order to encourage contact between Russians and Americans and to promote interest in the diverse people that inhabit the U.S.

Clarissa Rizal sorts  antique mother-of-pearl buttons for the Raven button -- a collaboration between designer Preston Singletary and button robe maker Clarissa Rizal

Clarissa Rizal sorts antique mother-of-pearl buttons for the Raven button — a collaboration between designer Preston Singletary and button robe maker Clarissa Rizal

The exhibit will travel to three cities in Russia – Yekaterinburg, Orenburg and Surgut. In all three cities there will be opportunities to show objects in display cases as well as on the walls.

Yekaterinburg is an industrial city and the capital of the Urals. Previously, they have hosted an exhibit of Native American photography.

Orenburg is a remote city in the south of the Urals that is simply interested in learning more about other cultures. This will be their first time hosting an exhibit the American consulate and they are very enthusiastic.

Surgut is a city located in a region that is home to the Khanti and Mansi peoples. The region is committed to preserving and honoring the cultural heritage and traditions of the Khanti and Mani peoples, and they are particularly interested in the Woven Together exhibit to learn more about Native peoples in the U.S.

Corners of "Raven" button blanket made by Clarissa Rizal designed by Preston Singletary 2015

Corners of “Raven” button blanket made by Clarissa Rizal designed by Preston Singletary 2015

 

 

Sandblasted Glass Window Insert

"Frog Speaks" sand-blasted glass window by Clarissa Rizal - 2001

“Frog Speaks” sand-blasted glass window by Clarissa Rizal – 2001

Back in 2001 I had the privilege to apprentice with two glass artists Preston Singletary and David Svenson at the Pilchuck School of Glass.  We were working on the glass pieces that were inserted into the totem pole that David had designed to honor the 30-year anniversary of Pilchuck.  The main body of the totem pole was carved at the Alaska Indian Arts in Haines, Alaska by Wayne Price, John Hagen, Steven Brown, Lee Heinmiller, David and others.  While at the school, Preston encouraged me to use some of the school’s other studio spaces, like the print-making studio, or the sand-blasting area, etc.  I learned how to prepare a plate of glass for sandblasting so I could create an embossed, limited-edition  print of one of my favorite button blanket images called “Frog Speaks.”  I kept the glass plate; since it’s been a part of my window decor in my studio.  Maybe someday I’ll make a second edition of this print OR maybe someday I’ll make a series of embossed prints — just never know!

Seminole Patchwork Borders

A roll of Seminole Indian  Patchwork waits to become borders for button blanket robes designed and made by Clarissa Rizal

A roll of Seminole Indian Patchwork waits to become borders for button blanket robes designed and made by Clarissa Rizal

Back in 2005, I was given the honor to design and create a button blanket robe for a prominent elder in our community, Ethel Lund.  The border of the robe was a Seminole Indian patchwork trimmed out with Navajo ribbon work.  The robe is called “Frog Speaks” — it is part of my button blanket collection on my website at this link:  http://clarissarizal.com/gallery/button-robes/

I have several feet of this roll of Seminole Indian patchwork wide enough for the borders to a couple of button blanket robes — with all the designs and options of fabrics, etc., it’s so hard to make up my mind how I want them to turn out!  The possibilities are endless!  You ever have that problem!?