ANB Arts & Crafts Show --- Juneau, Alaska

Front Table: Brian Chilton, Doug Chilton & Sonny

This is the first annual Alaska Native Brotherhood Arts & Craft Show held at the ANB Camp 2 on Willoughby Avenue in Juneau. This event also celebrated Native Heritage Day. There was about twenty vendors selling native art. Three Tlingit dance groups performed on the main stage, and there was native food on the menu at the cafeteria... including fry bread. The most popular event was the drawing... held on the last day which artwork was given away, donated by the vendors. The thing that everyone was waiting for was the silver bracelet engraved by Doug Chilton. It was a lot of fun... but very tiring... since we helped set up this event. Next year it will be larger... and it will coincide with the Juneau Public Market.

Sonny with his niece Nova

My niece Nova is so happy to see me... but she is shy when the camera came out. I look so tired in the photo... I had only about 30 minutes sleep the night before... I must make changes in my life so I never do a show with that little sleep. I wasn't the only one... Doug Chilton, Benjamin Schleifman, and Tom Wehnes were up with me to the wee hours of the morning.

Yaaw Tei Ti Dancers of Juneau

The Yaaw Tei Ti Dancers of Juneau performed during the show. All of together, three dance groups performed at the show. Another favorite group was the All Nations Childrens dance group, performed at noon on Saturday... this group has trained over hundred kids Tlingit singing and dancing. The vendors donated artwork for the drawing... which was popular... and of course... everyone loved the fry bread.

Two New Shows in Juneau, Alaska

There are two shows coming up in within the next three weeks. Both shows are put on by the Alaska Native Brotherhood (ANB) Camp #2 at the Andrew Hope Building on Willoughby Avenue in downtown Juneau.

Public Market
ANB Camp #2 Arts & Craft Show
November 28th & 29th.
Andrew Hope Building, Juneau
Juneau Gallery Walk
ANB Camp #2 Arts & Craft Show
December 5th & 6th.

The show that happens during the Juneau Public Market is separate from the events that happen at Centenial Hall. In fact, Pete Metcalf, who happens to be an ANB Camp #2 member, will periodically announce 'our' show during the Public Market show.

Both of the shows will have a great selection of native artists from southeast. The ones confirmed so far are, Doug Chilton, Gene Chilton, Brian Chilton, Tom Wehnes, Dwaye Bousch, Benjamin Schleifman, and of course myself... I'll have a nice large selection of sculptures. There will be many more artist that will be vendors, I'll announce them later with a more complete list.

Raven Canoe at the Smithsonian, Washington DC

Thompson Boat Center, Potomac River
In early June, I called my friend Doug Chilton in Juneau (I was still in Seattle) and he told me that the installation & ceromonies was moved up to late June. Well... I quickly changed my plans and bought a round trip ticket on Northwest Airlines from Seattle to Washington DC for $405... two days before departure! Those websites for air fares are great, you might have to surf the web for a bit, but if you are lucky, you can get great deals. I arrived in DC on June 18th at night, met my friends from Juneau, and the next day I laid eyes on the finished canoe that Doug Chilton and his brother Brian carved. I only worked on the canoe for about 4 months. I looked great to see it in all 'her' glory, sitting there waiting to go in the water.
The Raven Canoe was given the name "Raven Spirit."
Many representatives from the Sealaska Corporation, the Sealaska Heritage Institute, and our State Senators were there to witness, talk about the canoe project and present the canoe to the officials of the Smithsonian Museum. It was quite warm that day, temperatures in the high eighties, but the humidity is what I will remember... it was sauna like. The canoe was given the name "Raven Spirit"... the design on the canoe is from an old Tlingit story called the 'Box of Daylight', where Raven steals a box of daylight from a wealthy old man,... when raven opens the box the sun flew out up in the sky, where it has been ever since. The naming ceremony was done by Tlingit tradition. Many of our elders were there to witness it and to make sure it was done by proper protocol.
Master carver Doug Chilton and the 'Raven Spirit.'














Doug Chilton was the one who recieved the commission to carve the Raven canoe for the Smithsonian. Many people, myself included, are so proud of Doug for this project. The canoe will be in the Museum of Natural History in the new Oceans Hall... forever... for all to see.
Doug Chilton is the Captain of the 'Raven Spirit' in the Potomac


















The 'Raven Spirit' is finally in the Potomac River. When I was helping Doug & Brian with the canoe, we would often talk about this day... paddling the canoe in Washington DC. Back then when it was cold out last winter, paddling the canoe in the Potomac seemed like a far away dream. It was so great to see 'her' going up the Potomac. In my mind I can say, the Tlingits were here in Washington.
Group photo around the 'Raven Spirit'















The carvers and paddlers... are posing for a group photo with the Raven Spirit. Brian Chilton (wearing a black vest on the left), myself, Doug Chilton (wearing a black vest on the right), and our State Senator of Alaska, Albert Kookesh (right of Doug) were along side the canoe. It was a proud moment.
Carvers: Sonny Grant, Doug Chilton, Brian Chilton.














Doug, Brian, and myself had official visitors passes for the Smithsonian Museum, we could walk anywhere we wanted... including to the depths of the basements where the really interesting art is kept. Here we are standing in front of the Museum of Natural History where the 'Raven Spirit' will be displayed. Come and see it... all the museums of the Smithsonian are always free.
The White House, ol' George wasn't there at the moment.


















This was my first trip to Washington DC... it is a great city to visit. I went to the White House Museum, the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, and to the Vietnam War Memorial. There is so much history here. It was nice to see it in person.

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.