Alaskan Weaver Ricky Tagaban on Campus for Week-Long Residency

April 6, 2017

Juneau, Alaska-based artist Ricky Tagaban will spend a week as a visiting artist and speaker at Johnson State College as part of the college’s Ellsworth Lecture series. In addition to giving a public talk on Wednesday, April 12, called “Weaving Politics and Process: Expressing Northwest Coast Textiles through a Two-Spirit Life,” Tagaban will meet with college community members and offer demonstrations of his process during his visit.

Tagaban, a gay member of the indigenous Alaskan Tlingit community, is a skilled weaver who incorporates traditional, modern and political elements into his work. In writing about his artistic practice, Tagaban says, “My work happens at the intersection of my Queer and Native identities, and allows me to actively decolonize my life and my communities through investigations of traditions and commentaries on histories….[It] is always based in Tlingit traditions, but I take calculated risks throughout my processes. This foundation does not exclude the use of modern materials such as condoms or bullet shells. These works are not just an inquiry of the past, they also reflect the healing I hope our communities gain.”

In addition to his public talk, Tagaban will spend a week on campus meeting with students in Johnson State art and political science classes and offering public demonstrations of his weaving.

Weaving demonstrations will take place on Monday, April 10, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Stearns Student Center Dining Hall and Friday, April 14, from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. in the Dewey Hall Lounge.

Tagaban’s talk will take place on Wednesday, April 12, at 7 p.m. in Bentley Hall, Room 207.

This event is free and open to the public.

His talk is the 33rd annual Ellsworth Lecture, a series that brings visiting scholars and artists to JSC.

Below is Tagaban’s complete statement about his talk.

Weaving Politics and Process: Expressing Northwest Coast Textiles through a Two-Spirit Life

An introduction to Alaska Native Tlingit culture and Northwest Coast Textiles. y defining and describing moiety, clan structure, in relation to intersectionality the importance of traditional arts training, political expressions through current works, and a broad overview of traditional and contemporary pieces through time, highlighting harvesting of materials, natural plant dyes, merging past and present practices.

My work happens at the intersection of my Queer & Native identities, and allows me to actively decolonize my life & my communities through investigations of traditions and commentaries on histories. It is political on many levels; over the last 200 years, various religious, government, and educational institutions enforce policies to eradicate/assimilate Native peoples. Many of our traditions have since gone underground, but are starting to come out.

Chilkat weaving originated from the Nisga’a people and was adopted by the surrounding Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian tribes. As a member of the Tlingit tribe, I was asked to learn Chilkat weaving by artist Clarissa Rizal, who is the last living apprentice of late master weaver Jennie Thlunaut. Rizal was informed by Thlunaut that among our tribe, gay men may weave chilkat. This insight tells us that Two Spirit people held prestigious roles prior to Western contact.

My work is always based in Tlingit traditions, but I take calculated risks throughout my processes. This foundation does not exclude the use of modern materials such as condoms or bullet shells. These works are not just an inquiry of the past, they also reflect the healing I hope our communities gain.