Doug Chilton and the Raven

Native American Douglas Chilton (or Yaa nak.ch, his native name) started carving a canoe this fall, when a raven alighted near his workspace. Chilton, who belongs to the Raven clan of the Tlingit Indians, viewed the raven's appearance as a blessing, especially because he and his colleague Rosita Worl from Sealaska Heritage Institute had already worked out a raven design for the canoe prow.
"I've heard about such coincidences happening to other people, but this is the first time it's happened to me," Chilton says. As word about the black-winged sentry spread, clan elders came to offer blessings and prayers, naming the raven "the watcher." (There is no Tlingit word for guardian.) When Chilton and his family members work on the canoe, the raven takes up a post in a nearby tree and periodically squawks a call, as if to say, "Hurry up!"

Chilton's canoe was commissioned for the new Ocean Hall, shich will be opening next September at the National Museum of Natural History. He is at work now just outside the Sealaska in Juneau, Alaska (a contributor to the Oceans Hall). A web cam is following Chilton's daily progress, and from time to time, the raven can be seen there too. It has a slightly damaged wing, but it seems to be boldly patrolling the canoe and shooing away the curious.

Chilton Remembers seeing a raven, which also had an injured wing, at a site 11 miles away when he was preparing the log for carving. He believes it't the same bird and intends to honor the raven's vigilance by incorporating its damaged wing into the canoe design. Though ravens are common in the Northwest, witnessing a myth in the making--online--that's a rare sign of the times.

Doug Chilton and the Raven
October 18, 2007
http://aroundthemall.smithsonianmag.com/archives/category/natural-history-museum
Around the Mall, Smithsonian Magazine
(Douglas Chilton and the raven, courtesy of Sealaska Heritage Institute)

This article is posted here because people are having difficulting finding it... later I'll have all the periodical info here.

Simon Koonook

Simon Koonook carving soapstone.

Simon was so fast at carving soapstone that he would get coated in soapstone dust. I would sit there drinking coffee and watch him...turn a stone into a bear in 15 or 20 minutes. It was just amazing to see. I started off sanding sculptures for him, first starting with 220 grit wet/dry sandpaper, then finishing with 400 grit. He would sand the sculpture in warm water, keeping the hazard of dust in check, then he would dry it off. The sculpture would be sprayed with an acrylic spray. He often said that the smell of the spray smelled like money. He was a great believer in afternoon naps... so if I was stuck on a sculpture mid afternoon, I would have to find him, then wake him up. He had such a sweet spirit that he would smile, get a cup of coffee, then proceed to help me. The last carving technique I learned from him was using a bow saw for rough cutting the stone. The saw does the most work, thus it is the most important step. It removes the most material. It took me a long time to master the saw, I used to cut myself so many times that I had a small first aid kit in my tool box. Now I can cut stone without really thinking... thoughts just turn into action... voila!... a sculpture.

Inupiaq sculptor & painter, from Point Hope, Alaska.

Simon illustrated some books with his paintings... if you google him... you will see the books his drawings are in. He used to be a DJ at a radio station in Barrow... and he would sometimes talk like he was on the radio. He was so funny that he would entertain crowds of people that was watching us. The Wiemer gallery was a place that traveling artists would come by to visit... to show thier latest work. It was so great meeting so many outstanding artist. I knew back then that I really loved this work. It slowly took hold in my life, until it was all I thought of... sculpture. I later studied and worked with Simon's teacher in Anchorage at TAHETA... with George John and Patrick Mezzena. Later I will tell you interesting stories of my time at TAHETA. I can give you a hint... the profession picks the person... it takes a special person to be a native artist.

Juneau, Alaska

I was born and raised here in downtown Juneau. It was at the Wiemer Gallery where I met Simon Koonook, an Inupiaq Eskimo from Point Hope, Alaska. Simon taught me the art of soapstone sculpture where I apprenticed with him for three and a half years. Since my apprenticeship, I have studied the art of stone carving in alabaster, serpentine, pipestone, and marble. I have always said that sculpture picked me... I never thought I would be a stone sculptor.

When I was growing up, I used to draw alot... so much so that I repeated third grade. I went through different phases of drawing. My first subjects were of battlefields from the Civil War to World War II. I use to draw different famous battles such as the 'Battle of Gettysburg', to 'Normandy'. Then it switched to drawing navy ships. I used to draw all the famous battleships from all over the world, but my favorite was the U.S.S. Missouri. Then later I would draw plants and trees... and soon I would do Alaska outdoor scenery. Then finally I started to draw Alaskan animals. I did pencil, pen & ink, wood block, acylic and oil paintings.

In seventh grade I carved a Northwest Coast cedar panel of a 'sea monster'. I carved several panels of different NW Coast designs... but my favorite was a Tlingit design of an eagle. I really loved carving wood, but I really didn't know too much about wood carving. I should have carved with my uncle Leo Jacobs Sr., who was a master totem carver... but I was young. I did sell all my wood carvings to people from church and school. Soon girls and music took my interest and I drifted away from it. Later in middle school I fell in love with photography and learned to develop black & white film, then color, and then finally color slides. I took up graphic arts in high school, and our department did all the graphics for our high school. Later on I moved to San Francisco and did graphic design using Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, and Adobe Pagemaker, using a Macintosh. I worked for several firms in SF, but my favorite job was doing graphics at Arthur Court Designs in SOMA. My specialty was doing catalogs. I did business graphics for Bain & Company in SF, a management consultanting firm.

After a couple of years of doing graphics, I moved back to Juneau, and looked for a job doing graphic design. Juneau is small and there was very little work available in graphics. I happen to walk in the Wiemer Gallery and there inside was my art teacher from high school... Arnie Wiemer. Working with Arnie was Simon Koonook, an outgoing and happy eskimo carver from Point Hope. I started carving with Simon and made some seal sculptures. My first sculptures used to take me all day to complete. My job hunting was depressing, so at some point I would end up at the Wiemer Gallery. I carved everyday, and Simon Koonook was happy to teach me. Each sculpture I carved would sell. Simon would talk some tourist into buying it. He would say, "look at my students work, isn't it good." At the end of that summer, I asked Simon if I could apprentice with him. He said that he was hoping I would ask him to study with him. It took a long time to feel like a sculptor, because I was such a slow learner, but Simon was patient with me. We both loved our own native culture... and we both loved each others native traditions. He would tell many Inupiaq stories and personal stories of Point Hope. I shared with him my Tlingit stories and traditions which he loved very much. Juneau was often too warm for him so we had many walks along the Juneau waterfront to cool off, especially when the temperture reached the seventies. Work would come to a halt when it was warm, he would say "Sonny, lets walk along the waterfront." We would talk about life, girls, Alaska, but mostly we talked about art... stone sculptures from cultures all over the world.

In 1996 after I returned from Italy, I told Simon that I saw the 'David' in Florence. He was so happy to hear about my experiences in Europe. It was then that we agreed to do a trip together to Italy, to see the works of Michelangelo in Florence. But later in the fall, Simon drowned in an accident. It was a terrible lost to me. I think of him often when I carve stone, or even when I look at sculptures. We used to stroll in downtown Juneau and look at sculptures in the many galleries along Franklin Street. Today I am quite fast at carving stone, but I know that Simon was still faster than me. Simon had alot of high hopes for me... as an artist, even when I felt like my work sucked! I often wrestled with insecurities with myself and my work... but I just remember Simon's laugh and his words of encouragement. It took me a long time to see what Simon saw in me, and today my work is still influence by Simon's joyful view of life. I love all forms of art, but I especially love sculpture... and I can finally say today, "I am a sculptor."