Blog

The renowned master artist Robert Davidson sometimes submits pieces for SHI's blog. This month, news of a new documentary on a totem pole raising in Old Massett in 1969 came out. The film, Now is the Time, explores the raising of a pole carved by Davidson and his brother, Reg. Robert wrote this blog to provide [...]

Alaska Native high school students immersed themselves in culturally-based education and leadership training on the ancestral territory of the Áak’w Ḵwáan during Sealaska Heritage’s Latseen Art & Leadership academy, held in partnership with Central Council Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska (CCTHITA) and in collaboration with Goldbelt Heritage Foundation. A total of 30 students participated [...]

  At Sealaska Heritage, we field a lot of questions from the public, researchers and the media about Northwest Coast cultures. This question addresses a question we've fielded numerous times. Question: What is the proper response when a clan performs a Spirit Song? SHI President Rosita Worl: George Keiḵóok’ Jim of the Wooshkeetaan Clan and L’uknax̱.ádi yádi addressed this question at the [...]

Photos: Community carving sessions at Gajaa Hít By Lyndsey Brollini The smell of cedar and the pounding of adzes hitting wood filled the air at Gajaa Hít on a recent Saturday during what has become a regular gathering for a small group of Juneau carvers. The Haa Latseen Community Project carving sessions, a Sealaska Heritage program, at Gajaa [...]

Left: Team Juneau walks in the athlete parade at the Native Youth Olympic Games in Anchorage. Photo courtesy of Michael Dinneen. Right: Team Juneau on their last day of practice before traveling to Anchorage for the NYO Games. Photo by Lyndsey Brollini. (Sponsors) By Lyndsey Brollini More than 400 athletes from across the state traveled [...]

Congratulations to former Sealaska Heritage employee Tamara Ikenberg, who just won first place in the cultural stories category from the Alaska Press Club! She wrote, Hooked: Ancient fishing technology preserved and revived for the next generation, for First Alaskans Magazine on behalf of Sealaska Heritage. The piece, first published in 2018, is reprinted here with permission [...]

By Jessie Barker (Aarhus University, Denmark, and the Behavioural Insights Team, UK) With thanks to Celia Denton (University of Alaska, Anchorage), Jerreed Ivanich (Johns Hopkins University) and Caitlin Stern (Santa Fe Institute) I arrived in Juneau the day before Celebration, the zipper on my suitcase almost broken from trying to close around a bagful of [...]

A blog by the renowned master artist Robert Davidson on Northwest Coast art: Quality takes time, allows time for thinking. Thinking develops maturity of the end product. Too many great ideas are stunted by rushing to completion. Knowing and acting on it are two different things. When one masters the principles developed by the Old [...]

  At Sealaska Heritage, we field a lot of questions from the public, researchers and the media about Northwest Coast cultures. This question addresses an issue we've dealt with many times in the past and continue to face today. Question: What are the challenges of integrating Native arts, culture and language into new institutions? SHI President Rosita Worl: In our efforts to integrate Native art, [...]