WINNERS OF SEALASKA JURIED ART SHOW ANNOUNCED

Six artists have taken top awards at the third Sealaska Juried Art Competition in Juneau for best contemporary and traditional Native art.

The winners, chosen by jurors Preston Singletary, a Native glass artist, and Aldona Jonaitis, a Northwest Coast art scholar, are:

Best of Show

• Copper Man - by  Clarissa Hudson

Traditional Art

• 1^st Place- “Fooled You Again” Raven Transformation Mask - by David A. Boxley

• 2^nd Place- Frog Canoe Tackle Box - by David A. Boxley

• 3^rd Place- Diagonal Weave Basket - by Deborah Head

Contemporary Art

• 1^st Place- Tlingit; Portrait; Raven; & The Good Book - by Nicholas Galanin

• 2^nd Place- Tsirku River Robe - by Lani Hotch

• 3^rd Place- Smokey Mountain Memories - by Corey Stein

The following pieces also were selected for inclusion in the show: 

• Jeanine Clam Basket - by  Deborah Head

• Transitional Ravenstail Rattle Top Basket - by  Lorraine Kasko

• Fiddleheads - by  William Pfeifer

• Shamans Travel - by Celeste Worl

• Ravenstail Robe - by Pauline Duncan

• Octopus Woman Mask - by David A. Boxley

• Fox on the Run - by Corey Stein

• Progression - by Nicholas Galanin

• What Ain’t to be Just Might Happen - by Corey Stein

• A Little Bit of Ridicule, How Will You Receive It - by Michael Dangeli

• Glacier Bay Story - by William Pfeifer

• Thank You Halibut People - by Chloe French

• Chaak Button Blanket - by Ivan D. Williams

• Wolf Rattle - by David A. Boxley

• Goad Lax Skeek; Devoted to the Eagle Clan - by Michael Dangeli

• The Wolves Inside - by Kimberly MacLoud

• Button Dance - by Chloe French

• Strengthening My Name Goothl Ts’imilx - by Michael Dangeli

• Big Grandma’s Watching - by Deborah Head

• Ba’O; The Origin of Mosquito - by Michael Dangeli

• Waltz of the Winds - by Corey Stein

• Green, Green Grass of Home - by Corey Stein

• Glass Ball, Open Weave - by Deborah Head

• Majorie Young Hat - by Deborah Head

Best of Show winner Clarissa Hudson said she wove her piece while coping with an illness.

“Creating copper man helped me, it was a process of coming back alive. I healed myself. And I’m still processing that,” she said.

David Boxley won 1st and 2nd place in the traditional category.

“Northwest Coast art, especially the art from our area, from the Tsimshian, Tlingit and Haida art, it’s the best in the world. It ranks right up there and surpasses so many of the so-called ancient cultures -- with this understanding that this type of art is still at a high level and increasing all the time is a good thing for all artists," Boxley said.

Lani Hotch won 2nd place, contemporary, for her Tsirku River Robe.

“I was pretty pleased to place. It was my first juried art show that I entered and to get second place I think is pretty good placing for my first try," Hotch said.

Corey Stein won 3rd place in the contemporary category for a series of beaded trees that illustrate a narrative about fire.

“The beaded story I did on these was about a grasshopper that started a forest fire down in Washington State when he got electrocuted on a fence and I thought that was really funny so I did a series of them. And they’re fire starters, and if you open up -- there’s a little lock on the bottom and if you open the lock, inside is wooden matches that if you strike them on a rock, you’ll start a fire," Stein said.

Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) received applications from 18 Native artists who submitted 59 pieces for consideration. Jurors chose 34 pieces by 14 artists for inclusion in the show. The prize for Best of Show was $1,500, while prizes for 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd place awards were $1,000, $750 and $500 respectively. The winners were announced Wednesday, May 31, during an evening reception at Sealaska Corp. The pieces will be exhibited in the lobby of Sealaska Plaza from 8 a.m. - 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, June 1-July 9, and Saturday, June 3. The show and competition are scheduled every two years to coincide with Celebration, which runs June 1-3 this year.

SHI founded the biennial Juried Art Show and Competition in 2002 to promote the development of Southeast Alaska Native arts.  The goals of the Juried Art Show are:

-To encourage and enhance the creation and production of Southeast Alaska Native objects of artistic value which have fallen into disuse and are becoming rare.

-To stimulate and enhance the quality of artistic work among our Native artisans.

-To encourage the development of new forms of art of purely Southeast Alaska Native form and design. 

To ensure an objective judging process, the names of the artists were not included with the photos of objects viewed during selection.

Sealaska Heritage Institute is a Native nonprofit founded by Sealaska Corp. in 1981 to administer the corporation’s cultural programs. The mission of the Institute is to perpetuate and enhance Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian cultures.

 

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