The Alaska State Museum February artifact of the month is a new house post by master carver Steve Brown. It's one of a pair of posts in the clan house gallery at the museum. Steve Brown is an internationally recognized artist, scholar, researcher, author, and curator of Northwest Coast art. You can find his work in Southeast Alaska, British Columbia, and Washington State. The house posts flank another recent acquisition—a carved and painted screen by renowned Tlingit artist Nathan Jackson.
The clan house exhibit is decorated as a representation of one of the original clan houses of the local Aak’w Kwaan Tlingit. It serves as a reminder that the museum rests on Aak’w territory.
Bob Sam, an elder of the L’eeneidí Téel Hit, coordinated the project with other Áak’w Kwáan members. "The new house posts and screen are incredible works of art.” said Sam.
The house posts and screen are decorated with the crests of the L’eeneidí clan, Téel Hít (Dog Salmon house) of the Áak’w Kwáan of the Tlingit.
Artist Steve Brown describes the post designs:
“The house posts represent crests of the L’eeneidí clan…Raven and Dog Salmon. The figures are a blend of human and animal characteristics. The first house post displays a full Raven’s beak and the curved snout of a spawning Dog Salmon. The new post (on the right) has a humanoid mouth and teeth on both the Raven and Dog Salmon. The Raven’s upper beak takes the place of the human nose, as the reduced snout of the dog salmon does the same on the lower figure. Subsidiary figures between the Raven’s wings are the Raven and Dog Salmon ancestors, and spirit images appear in the pectoral fins of the two Dog Salmon.”
Alaska State Libraries, Archives, and Museum staff, directed by Jackie Manning, Curator of Exhibitions; Aaron Elmore, Exhibits Specialist; and Ellen Carrlee, Conservator, installed the new house post on January 29, 2024.
From left to right: Steve Brown works on the new house post. Staff install the house post. New house post (on right) in the clan house.
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