Chilkat’s weaver Sainteen Anna Brown Ehlers was named in 2023 the Rasmuson Distinguished Artist for 2023.
The Juneau artist has said she intends to use the $50,000 prize to create the largest Chilkat blanket she has ever made.
“Everything I’ve accomplished is the largest thing ever completed,” she said. “The monster whale blanket that I am displaying in the Alaska State Museum and Archives currently measures eight inches wide, and 7 feet tall. It took me about a year to break the bark of yellow cedar and spin the wool to the .”
The blanket of killer whales required 8,000 hours of weaving the blanket, she explained. This is roughly 11 months of continuous work. She hopes that she can weave an entire blanket the size.
Ehlers had been acknowledged as a recipient of her organization, the National Endowment for the Arts. She said the awards given by Alaskans are more important to her.
“Being acknowledged nationally is good,” Ehlers said, “But being acknowledged by citizens of the state is more satisfying for myself.”
Ehlers has made a variety of blankets in the past 40 years and has taught a number of students. She claims she learned from two weaver, Dorica Jackson and Jennie Thlunaut. Thlunaut was aged 92 at the time.
It’s a span style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”I saw her weaving as a young teenager,” Ehlers said. “And when I was just four, I realized that this was the path I would like to accomplish in my future.”
Her father informed her that she’d need to earn an apprenticeship from Thlunaut However. Ehlers states that she brought the wool she had made to Klukwan to demonstrate Thlunaut, who then began to teach her how weave her way. Ehlers completed a blanket for a child under her direction.
“I returned to the scene to show her the picture the picture, and she told me ‘You’re exactly like me. You’re exactly like me! She was so thrilled,” Ehlers said.
For young weaver hopefuls, Ehlers says they shouldn’t let the sheer magnitude of the tradition keep their backs.
The span style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”Follow your heart,” she said. “Don’t let anyone thwart your ambitions. Start with a small amount. It’s true that everything begins by a tiny .”
Ehlers claimed she was unable to complete her job without family assistance. Her husband and wife renovated their home to make her studio, while her daughters help her spin wool.
Lyndsey Brollini who was also in Juneau received $10,000 for an interactive basketry project and multimedia.
