SHI’S TINÁA ART AUCTION ATTRACTS INTERNATIONALLY KNOWN ARTISTS
Event to kick off Friday, preceded by pop-up Native fashion boutique on Thursday
September 25, 2017
Sealaska Heritage Institute’s (SHI) second Tináa Art Auction has attracted a stunning array of more than 50 donations from Alaska Native artists, galleries and collectors, some from artists with multiple-year waiting lists for pieces.
The roster of people who have made donations includes internationally-known artists, such as Nathan Jackson, Delores Churchill, Robert Davidson, David A. Boxley, Preston Singletary and others.
“It’s very moving to see so many of our artists donating pieces to support our endowment, which will fund programs for future generations. We have been overwhelmed by their generosity,” said SHI President Rosita Worl, noting that galleries and collectors also have donated art.
The auction is scheduled at 6 p.m., Friday, Sept. 29, at Centennial Hall. Tickets may be purchased online.
Artists, collectors and galleries have given more than 50 pieces for the event, which will include silent and live auctions plus a Native fashion show.
The silent auction will feature 42 pieces by Henry and Yukie Adams, George Ahgupuk, the Amos family, David R. Boxley, Robert Davidson, Ronnie Fairbanks, Phyllis Fast, Rose Fraker, Deborah Frank-McLavey, Chloe French, Nicholas Galanin, Marcus Gho, Janine Gibbons, Donald Gregory, Lani Hotch, Tony Hunt, Jerry Lieb, Jr., Kandi McGilton, Da-ka-xeen Mehner, Vivian Mork, Corinne Parker, Benjamin Schleifman, Renee St. Onge, Lois Chichinoff Thadei, Art Thompson, Andrew Tripp, Rico Worl, Kinsie Young and Jennifer Younger.
The live auction will feature 11 pieces by Robert Davidson, Sonya Kelliher-Combs, Delores Churchill, David A. Boxley, Louise Kadinger and Crystal Worl, Duane Pasco, Jerrod Galanin, Ray Watkins, Preston Singletary, Nathan Jackson and Susan Point.
SHI will sponsor a Native fashion show during the auction which will be a highlight of the evening. The fashion show will feature more than 40 looks by 11 designers from Juneau, Anchorage, Washington, New Mexico and British Columbia.
The designers include Violet Dawn Ahmie, Pamela Baker, Barbara Fujimoto, Marcus Gho, Dorothy Grant, Louise Kadinger, Sandra Marion, Patricia Michaels, Rochelle Smallwood, Maria Shaa Tláa Williams and Crystal Worl.
The show also will include a special appearance by Tlingit Alyssa London, who represented the state at Miss Alaska USA 2017. She will wear a Joey Galon Atelier custom gown with a Northwest Coast design by Tlingit artist Preston Singletary, the same gown she wore at the national competition.
The director of the fashion show will be Amber-Dawn Bear Robe from Siksika Nation in Alberta, Canada. Bear Robe is a highly sought-after director who produces the annual Indian Market Fashion Show in Santa Fe. She has been instrumental in bringing established international names as well as new national names to the fashion show.
A special pop-up boutique will be held from noon-6:30 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 28, in the Walter Soboleff Building lobby, where works by Baker, Grant and Worl will be available for purchase. The boutique is free and open to the public. Everyone is welcome.
Proceeds from the auction will build SHI’s new endowment, which will fund critical art, language and education programs for future generations. Donors other than artists include Spirit Wrestler Gallery, Christopher Smith, Pack Rat Antiques, Richard Poor, 2 Friends Gallery and Steinbrueck Gallery.
Sealaska Heritage Institute is a private nonprofit founded in 1980 to promote cultural diversity and cross-cultural understanding through public services and events. SHI also conducts social scientific and public policy research and advocacy that promotes Alaska Native arts, cultures, history and education statewide. The institute is governed by a Board of Trustees and guided by a Council of Traditional Scholars, a Native Artist Committee and a Southeast Regional Language Committee. Its mission is to perpetuate and enhance Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian cultures of Southeast Alaska.
CONTACT: Rosita Worl, SHI President, 907.463.4844
