As some of you may know, the Sealaska Heritage Institute hosts a Native Artist Market during our biennial Celebration festival. Sealaska does this to encourage and support Native artists and their artistic abilities. From what our records show Celebration 2008 (held June 5-7) was the mostly widely attended Celebration festival to date, which demonstrates that Celebration and its associated events, such as the Native Artist Market, continue to grow in popularity.
At the conclusion of a successful Native Artist Market one particular Tlingit artist, Myra Rudolph-Dore who currently resides in the state of Washington, donated a beautifully crafted beaded necklace from her inventory to SHI as a show of her gratitude. The necklace was designed by Rudolph-Dore in this way because it reminded Rudolph-Dore of when she was a little girl walking home in Tenakee and seeing the blue berries being eating by the brown bears, hence the brown bear has a blue tongue. It measures 18 inches at the longest point and contains a 4 inch by 4 inch beaded bear head. Rudolph-Dore was born in Juneau and grew up in Juneau, Tenakee, and at the Wrangell Institute. This item is truly a great addition to our holdings and a sentimental piece which SHI gratefully accepts.
SHI Special Collections Research Center seeks to collect all types of Native art and ethnographic items in order to document the achievements of the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian people. Those interested in donating to SHI Special Collections or those with questions about this subject should contact SHI’s archivist.
