Meet us in the gallery for a lunchtime ART OF event! Bring a bagged lunch and enjoy a presentation by Dorica Jackson who will discuss her experience with Chilkat weaving, including details of her early discoveries and recent commissions. On view will be leggings and the Chilkat Dancing Robe she created to be worn by Nathan Jackson.
Chilkat Dancing Robes are worn by high-ranking tribal members on civic or ceremonial occasions, including dances. They are a type of highly esteemed textile throughout the Northwest Coast and long associated with nobility. These robes, sometimes called dancing blankets, were created by women using extremely complex twining techniques that enabled them to produce the curvilinear shapes forming the composition. The designs, woven in mountain goat wool and shredded cedar bark, copied painted images on wooden pattern boards produced by men.
Caption: A Chilkat robe by master weaver Dorica Jackson of Ketchikan has been purchased by the Ketchikan Museums Department, with help from a Rasmuson Foundation grant. (Photo courtesy Ketchikan Museums)