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USA-Alaska - Evening in the Sitka Sound - Tlingit Region
« ... one/you can cross the river on their backs . . . » - Pink Salmon - Sitka - Alaska - USA
In the Indian River near Sitka, a fisheries expert fishes for marked humpback salmon as part of the research into the mysterious life cycle of the salmon.
Two bears in double profile holding a bowl shaped like an eagle's beak. Alder wood, nacre, carved approximately 1895. (38 cm: SJM)SJM = Sheldon Jackson Museum, Sitka
Harold Jacobs, a young crafts apprentice at the Southeast Alaska Indian Cultural Center in Sitka, poses in ceremonial clothing. He is wearing a wooden wolf hat, a thunderbird Chilkat blanket, and a silver nose ring. The wolf rattle he is holding, carved by Reggie B. Peterson, tells us that Harold Jacobs is a member of the wolf moiety.
Especially impressive as examples of the art of mask making are the crown-like frontlets of the northern coastal people. A chief would wear one of these decorative headpieces during the dance to welcome his guests. The mask shown depicts what is presumably an eagle, below which is a human face. The mask is made of hardwood, haliotis, sea lion whiskers and eagle down; "fringe" is of ermine skins. (Mask 19 cm, extender 85 ern, SJM)SJM = Sheldon Jackson Museum, Sitka
This small bear figurine with its four «potlatch rings» was probably part of a larger headdress at one time. (Figure 18 cm, SJM)SJM = Sheldon Jackson Museum, Sitka
The upper end of a talking stick, which was held by a chief on ceremonial occasions; with wolfs head and haliotis inlays. (166 cm, SJM)SJM = Sheldon Jackson Museum, Sitka
This photograph of a section of one of the four house posts that supported the roof beams of the eagle's nest house in Sitka shows the legendary young eagle who helped a girl to survive after an epidemic had killed her clan. The girl later became the ancestor of the Kaagwaantaan clan, which made the four 200-year-old house posts available to the Sitka National Historical Park on a long-term loan.
In defending Sitka in 1804 against the attacking Russians, the Tlingit war chief Katlean wore this raven helmet. It is made out of a piece of wood covered with bear skin. The eyes are copper. (28 cm, SJM)SJM = Sheldon Jackson Museum, Sitka
Tlingit war dagger. The blade was ground out of a file, the handle is carved cedar with haliotis inlays. (51 cm; NMM)NMM = National Museum of Man, Ottawa
A wooden shaman figure with human hair, earrings made of animal teeth and a leather apron. The figure, which represents a shaman singing and shaking rattles, is assumed to have been carved by a Tlingit shaman more than 100 years ago. (30 cm, SJM)SJM = Sheldon Jackson Museum, Sitka
Charm of a Chilkat Tlingit shaman. Made of bone, it is carved in the shape of a sea monster with its offspring underneath its belly and a cuttlefish behind it. (13 cm, SJM)SJM = Sheldon Jackson Museum, Sitka
In 1976, on the occasion of the Bicentennial celebration in the United States, the artist Duane Pasco of Seattle won a competition in Sitka that resulted in a commission to create a "Bicentennial totem pole." This totem pole now stands in front of the Visitors' Center in Sitka National Historical Park. The base figure holding the halibut hook and the rattle represents the Northwest Coast Indian, who had a rich material culture and a magnificent ceremonial life before the arrival of white men.
Reggie B. Peterson was employed in wood carver and silversmith at the Southeast Alaska Cultural Center in Sitka. Here the Tlingit artist puts the finishing touches on an alder wood mask.
In the summer of 1985 the Indian Cultural Center in Sitak hired Margaret Gross as sewing instructor. The art includes the creation of so-called octopus bags and button blankets (see 29), two Tlingit specialties.
Shark mask made of alder, with hair and haliotis inserts. The artist Reggie B. Peterson carved it to .qualify as a master carver in 1980. It represents the crest of his clan.
