Chilkat weaver keeps vibrant tradition alive in Southeast

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Nora Marks Dauenhauer and Richard Dauenhauer, ed., Haa Kusteeyi, Our Culture, University of Washington Press and Sealaska Heritage Foundation, 1994, page 602. Printed photo by Dana Penland, Courtesy of Anna Ehlers and the Smithsonian Institution. Photo 84-9073-17.

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"T'lingit weaver Anna Brown Ehlers, student of Jennie Thlunaut, at work on a small loom, weaving in Chilkat style, 1983. Photo by Steve Brown."

Ellen Abbot, et al., ed., The Spirit Within, Seattle Art Museum, 1995, page 60.

"Photo: In memory of a twin. Anna Brown Ehlers explains the design on a Chilkat blanket she was working on Wednesday in the lobby of the Sealaska building. Ehlers said the blanket is a memorial to her late twin sister. Many of Ehlers' weavings are used by local Tlingit dancers during Celebration."

Webposted by the Juneau Empire June 6, 2002. Original image at http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/060602/loc_blanketpix.shtml

From left to right are Anna's youngest daughter, Alexis, wearing her grandfather's Killerwhale blanket woven by Anna, Anna's father wearing the Killerwhale tunic she also made for him, family friend Ben Coronel wearing a very old L'eeneidí clan whale blanket, and Anna's oldest daughter Marie wearing the Brown Twins of Starr Hill blanket. Image and weavings all from private collections.

Anna's two daughters, Marie and Alexis, wear their family's Killerwhale and Woodworm (Brown Twins) blankets.

Materials preparation: on the left is cleaned mountain goat wool that has had all the guard hairs meticulously picked out by hand. In the middle is a picture of wool; from left to right: raw mountain goat wool, carded sheep merino, a batting of 50/50 mixed mountain goat and merino (merino adds to the consistency and makes spinning easier), a chunk of batting pulled off, the chunk stretched out, and lastly spun into roving. The third picture is the beginning of a ball of warp. Anna's daughter Marie is an expert Chilkat spinner.

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Photographers Winter and Pond, and ethnographer George Thorton Emmons, extensively documented the Whale House at the turn of the century: http://www.dced.state.ak.us/dca/commdb/images/Klukwan_WhaleHouse_Ravenscreen.jpg http://www.dced.state.ak.us/dca/commdb/images/Klukwan_1895.jpg http://www.dced.state.ak.us/dca/commdb/images/Klukwan_whlhouse_out.jpg http://www.dced.state.ak.us/dca/commdb/images/Klukwan_chilkatdancers07.jpg The Winter and Pond collection resides at the Alaska State Museum. Read about the house posts from the Whale House : http://www.wolfheadstudios.com/house_posts.html The University of Alaska, Fairbanks, maintains an excellent website on the clans and houses of the Chilkat Valley: http://ankn.uaf.edu/ANCR/Southeast/TlingitMap/Jilkaat.html