NAAXEIN • NAAXIIN • GWISHALAAYT • CHILKAT WEAVING

Vest

Late 19th, early 20th century
Sheldon Jackson Museum SJ-I-A-48, LC.476

This vest is made from recycled pieces of a Chilkat robe, cut apart and gifted at a Tlingit ceremony probably in the later 18th or early 19th centuries.

Chilkat Eagle (Fragment of a Chilkat Robe)

Anna Brown Ehlers (Tlingit), 2006-7
Gift of the Rasmuson Foundation Art Acquisition Initiative. ASM 2008-13-1

This piece consists of a portion of a Chilkat robe that was woven as a memorial for the artist, Anna Brown Ehlers’ father, Naahaan (Austin Brown), who passed away in 2005. The robe, measuring 7.5 feet wide, took more than five thousand hours to weave and was brought out at her father’s memorial potlatch in Klukwan. In accordance with her father’s wishes, the robe was cut into sections, and the pieces distributed to honored guests at a memorial. This is the first time that a Chilkat robe has been cut apart in this manner in many decades. Her decision to cut up the big, beautiful blanket was controversial, Ehlers said. “I’ve never cared too much about controversy,” she added.  A witness to the event later stated: “You could hear a pin drop when Anna took the scissor and began cutting the weaving.”

Tradition’s Cutting Edge

Northwest Coast ceremonies often feature the gifting of property to invited guests, to affirm the social standing of the hosts. Further, the acceptance of a gift by witnessing guests marks their acceptance of the giving of clan names, the dedication of a new house, raising a totem pole, or the ascendence of a new clan leader. A ceremony involving special events and the giving of ceremonial gifts is often referred to as a “potlatch” (gift or giving) in Chinook, Chilkat robes are important prestige objects, and only the wealthiest aristocrat could gift one—in whole or in part—to an esteemed guest. Robes were sometimes cut into smaller pieces for distribution to several guests, who often remade the opulent gift into new regalia—headgear, vests, aprons and leggings—and put back into service. In the 19th century, such lavish gifting was seen as wasteful by missionaries and governments, who advocated the end of traditional ceremonies, and the custom of cutting robes for distribution ceased.