Mannequin wearing a robe and hat and holding a paddle on the left and a photograph of weaver Jennie Thlunaut in front of her loom on the right.

NAAXEIN • NAAXIIN • GWISHALAAYT • CHILKAT WEAVING

Frog Hat

Kiks.ádi Clan, Sitka Tlingit
ASM II-B-1840

Clan history states that this hat is ten generations old and was a replacement for an even older hat that had deteriorated with use. The frog is a primary crest of the clan, representing its early history.

Song Leader’s Paddle

Kiks.ádi Clan, Sitka Tlingit, Circa 1900
ASM 92-29-2

Paddles are used by Tlingit leaders to direct singers and dancers, as a conductor might lead an orchestra. This one is made from an old canoe paddle, painted to represent the raven moiety crest of the Kiks.ádi clan.

Frog Coming Out Naaxein (Chilkat Robe)

By Shax’saani Kéek’ (Jennie Thlunaut), Kaagwaantaan clan, Chilkat Tlingit, circa 1930s. Kiks.ádi Clan, Sitka Tlingit
ASM 93-30-1

Jennie Thlunaut demonstrates the weaving of a Naaxein (Chilkat Robe), circa 1980. 
ASLHC PCA348-219

Klukwan weaver Jennie Thlunaut was commissioned by the clan to weave a depiction of the “frog emerging from its winter hibernation,” or “frog coming out” design. The design shows the head and front legs of a frog emerging from its den, represented by a surrounded black circle dotted with white. As a girl, Jennie Thlunaut learned the art of Naaxein from Deinkul.át (Clara Benson), Jennie’s aunt.

The modern survival of Naaxein, Chilkat Weaving, was given a significant boost in 1985, the year before her death, when Thlunaut presided over a workshop for her students and apprentices in Haines. Many of the weavers featured in this exhibit—including Maria Miller, Delores Churchill, Edna Davis Jackson, Clarissa Rizal, Anna Brown Ehlers, and Ernestine Hanlon, were the beneficiaries of her desire to help young weavers develop their skills.

“I would like to tell you something, my sisters. I am happy, yes, as I am coming close to my final hour….that at this time you want to learn this weaving that I was blessed with. I don’t want to keep it to myself. I want someone else to learn….This is the art of my paternal aunts. My father’s sister…was called Deinkul.át. This is the art from her that was passed to my hands. I’m not stingy. I would like someone like me to learn it….I have been blessed with this weaving. Thank you for wanting it.” – Jennie Thlunaut 1985