NAAXEIN • NAAXIIN • GWISHALAAYT • CHILKAT WEAVING

Egyptian Thunderbird Chilkat Robe

by Clarissa Rizal (Tlingit), 2016. Shangukeidí (Thunderbird) Clan At.óow
Loan Courtesy Ray Watkins, LC.479

The artist, Clarissa Rizal, wearing the Egyptian Thunderbird Robe
Photo by Tom Pich, National Endowment for the Arts

Susan Hunter-Joerns commissioned Clarissa Rizal to make this robe to honor the elders and the generous spirit of Helen Abbott Watkins, who had adopted Susan into the Thunderbird clan. The supernatural bird is a crest of the clan, depicted on the robe with its wings holding up the eye, to remind us to “open up your eyes and honor the elders.” Based on their traditions, the Shangukeidí are said to be children of the sun. Inside the belly of the Thunderbird, the Egyptian Scarab represents “coming into being,” for the scarab would roll the sun out of the underworld each day, returning the sun to its people.