In the Sheldon Jackson Museum where I work, I get to sit among the collection of priceless objects from each of Alaska’s Native cultures. It’s impossible not to notice that every object is embellished with artwork. Among our Tlingit people, clan designs decorate every utilitarian object: bentwood boxes, carved bowls, sheep horn spoons, Chilkat blankets, […]
Guest Blogger Robert Davis Hoffmann: Intersections Read More »
Everyone has rituals, things that we do in a certain way, at a certain time, or in certain settings. Some of the rituals we perform on special days of the month. Back home in Kake for example, before people go out to Grave Island on Memorial Day, family members clear off family graves and make
Guest Blogger Robert Davis Hoffmann: Journal as Ritual Read More »
I design in our Tlingit formline design style explained most eloquently by Bill Holm in Northwest Coast Indian Art: An Analysis of Form. I create paintings in acrylics, drawings in graphite, and carvings in alder and cedar. I get inspiration from our history, land, people – our culture. I am inspired by works of other
Guest Blogger Robert Davis Hoffmann: Bring the Body Read More »
It was a summer morning. I took the jeans from my drawer, lifting them to my face, breathing the aroma of strawberries and hay that still clung to the knees. I pictured myself kneeling in the strawberry fields, earning money for our move to Alaska in 1964. I was in 4th grade when my family
April’s Guest Blogger Robert Davis Hoffmann: Longing and Belonging Read More »
