Sealaska Heritage Institute
SHI's Alaskan Native Artistic Mastery, Inspired by its People
SHI
the arts.
From Then to Now: Northwest Coast Art and the Future Ahead
As part of our mission to perpetuate and enhance Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian cultures, we are helping to perpetuate and promote Northwest Coast Native art.
Northwest Coast (NWC) art evolved over several thousand years in the rich and complex Indigenous societies of the Pacific Northwest of North America. Art adorned everything from monumental structures and ceremonial regalia to basic utilitarian objects. The simplicity of the design components—elements of a system known as formline—belie the complexity and sophistication that was achieved in this two-dimensional NWC art tradition. From the earliest contact with Westerners, wood carvings, weavings, and other cultural pieces depicting NWC art were aggressively collected by museums and visitors and acclaimed as one of the most distinctive and unique art traditions in the world. Today, this ancient tradition continues to evolve through the work of contemporary NWC artists.
NWC art occupies an important position in America’s artistic traditions and cultural history. Most importantly, it plays a significant role in maintaining the cultural diversity of the nation and the cultural survival of the region’s Indigenous populations. Like jazz music, which was designated a national treasure by Congress in 1987, NWC art should be designated a national treasure of the United States.
Northwest Coast Art and the Future Ahead
As part of our mission to perpetuate and enhance Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian cultures, we are helping to perpetuate and promote Northwest Coast Native art.
Formlines are a fundamental element of traditional Northwest Coast Indigenous art, characterized by a distinctive curvilinear style used to create stylized representations of animals, people, and other forms. They are an essential part of the visual language of many Indigenous communities and are often used to convey stories, beliefs, and cultural values.
Using the metaphor of a “formline” as a bridge between the past and present suggests that art can serve as a powerful tool for connecting with our cultural heritage, understanding the traditions and beliefs of our ancestors, and preserving them for future generations. It also implies that art can transcend time and space, allowing us to communicate across ages and cultures in a way that words alone cannot.
We have a vision to make Juneau the NWC art capital, a quest that began with the construction of the Walter Soboleff Building, which is in itself a work of art and is adorned with monumental art pieces by three master indigenous artists of international acclaim. The creation of the NWC arts capital ensures the survival of NWC arts, providing untold sustainable social and economic benefits to the region and state.
SHI partners with Southeast Alaska school districts, tribes, nonprofit organizations, the University of Alaska Southeast and the Institute of American Indian Arts to carry out its art programming.
Sealaska Heritage Store
Alaska Native arts are sold through SHI’s Sealaska Heritage Store and its website. SHI assures that all art sold through the store that is marketed as Native-made is in fact Native-made, and not fake knock-offs that unfortunately are common in the retail market. Customers who buy through the store help support Alaska Native artists, and the proceeds help fund training in Native arts. The Sealaska Heritage Store is located at 105 S. Seward S. in Juneau on the street level of Sealaska Heritage Institute.
First Friday
SHI, the Sealaska Heritage Store, and Sealaska Heritage Arts Campus participate in Juneau’s First Friday, a monthly celebration of the arts. We host demonstrating artists plus Native artist and fashion designer vendors, who sell their work during the event. Artists and designers may click here to sign up for a free table.
Celebration Native Artist Market
SHI sponsors a Native Artist Market during Celebration, a biennial dance-and-culture festival that is one of the largest events in the state.
SHI's Artist Resources
Feel free to review the below info and please do visit our downloadable resources page.
Formline design is part of a living culture and integral to the lifeways of the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian.
“It surrounds us, and it holds us up. Our Northwest Coast art is ingrained in the social fabric and oral histories of our clans.” —Rico Lanáat ́ Worl, A Basic Guide to Northwest Coast Formline Art
In this project, we give students an introduction to formline design shapes and definitions, the importance of balance in the design form, and to ways an experienced Native artist would compose a formline design. We then provide them with tools to create their formline design. A key to this project is to see both the positive and negative aspects of a design and how each type influences and serves to shape the other.
SHI offers materials to teach Northwest Coast art, including an online textbook, flashcards, and curriculum boards. To order a hard copy of the textbook, contact the Sealaska Heritage Store at thestore@sealaska.com or 907.586.9114.
SHI published the three-book series Tlingit Wood Carving, which includes step-by-step instructions on how to make a traditional Tlingit tray, hat, and mask. Learn the ancient Tlingit tradition of wood carving with artist Richard A. Beasley. You’ll also learn how to inlay abalone and opercula into the wood. Learn techniques used for millennia by some of the world’s most accomplished artists-the Tlingit of Southeast Alaska.
SHI has posted numerous videos online, including a two-day formline workshop taught by Steve Brown, ovoid construction with David R. Boxley using Adobe Illustrator, and how-to video series showing spruce root weaving in practice, from harvesting the roots to weaving and finishing the basket, as well as some time talking with Delores Churchill, a master Haida weaver. This series was created to help revive the endangered art form of spruce root weaving and features several apprentices. The video documentation was gifted to SHI by Lindblad Expeditions as a way to give back to the cultures that their clients (tourists) are exposed to. Instructional videos on how to make horn spoons were created in an effort to save this endangered Northwest Coast art practice. Horn spoon instructor Steve Brown narrates the videos.
Videos are posted online on our YouTube channel and on our Vimeo page.
Watch lectures on Northwest Coast art by renowned Native artists and scholars, including Robert Davidson, Delores Churchill, and David Boxley.
SHI videos are posted online on our YouTube channel and on our Vimeo page.
NWC art historically included a rich performing arts tradition. In modern times, SHI has sought to integrate Native cultures into productions such as operas and plays. To that end, SHI sponsors Aadé sh kadulneek yé, which seeks to foster acting, Native language, and singing skills into adults for such performances.
It is committed to building educational and career pathways beginning in high school and extending throughout the collegiate and professional levels, and is implemented in partnership with University of Alaska Southeast, Juneau School District, Klawock City School District, Sitka School District and Sitka Tribe of Alaska.
A large portion of the programming is offered through the Sealaska Heritage Arts Campus, a hub for in-person and virtual course offerings taught by master artists and co-sponsored with University of Alaska in efforts to expand the Northwest Coast Arts degree program while increasing delivery methods.
The project is part of SHI’s efforts to galvanize the region’s economy and ultimately designate Northwest Coast Art as a national treasure. TIDES works collaboratively with SHI to facilitate a peer learning cohort that consists of High School Math teachers, High School NWC art instructors, and cultural specialists to participate in a series of virtual seminars/workshops in NWC arts and ethno-mathematics strategies; discuss curriculum, and foster avenues for peer support.
Voices on the Land
Grades 4-8
Voices on the Land provides literacy-based, artist residencies in 4th and 5th grade classrooms, with Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian languages and cultural values forming the basis of instruction. The program integrates visual, performing, and digital arts with traditional knowledge. Through the experience, students use storytelling to create stop motion animation videos; learn the elements of Northwest Coast formline design, while keeping an artist’s journal and making a traditional drum; and use the skills of the actor’s toolbox and reader’s theater to explore and perform Raven Stories handed down through the ages. Voices on the Land also provides an in-person summer and winter arts intensive program for students in grades 4-8, as well as a virtual summer intensive program for students in grades 4-8 who live outside of Juneau.
Atnané Northwest Coast Arts Academy
High School
SHI sponsors Atnané Northwest Coast Arts Academy, a culturally integrated college and career readiness program for Alaska Native/American Indian high school students. Northwest Coast arts classes, team building activities, entrepreneurship training, and culturally affirming artistic lesson plans help students enter a career pathway in Northwest Coast arts. Open to all Sealaska shareholders regardless of residency. SHI will pay travel and lodging costs.
In addition, SHI has partnered with the Juneau, Sitka, and Klawock school districts to offer Northwest Coast arts courses to high school students in six high schools. Students have the option to earn college credit as well as high school credits, and the program supports the courses with accessible, authentic cultural resources.
Northwest Coast Arts Degree Program
Bachelor’s Degree
SHI has partnered with the University of Alaska Southeast (UAS) to develop and offer an Associate of Arts (AA) degree with an emphasis on Northwest Coast arts. The undergraduate program includes a wide spectrum of classes—from tool making to design, basketry and weaving among others. The program, which will be offered this fall at the university’s Juneau, Ketchikan and Sitka campuses, is part of a larger effort to establish a four-year degree track through UAS and the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Thanks to an MOA between SHI, UAS, and IAIA, students who earn an AA degree with a NWC Arts emphasis have the option to transfer credits and pursue a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from IAIA. Students can also work toward a bachelor’s degree in arts and sciences or education at UAS or the broader University of Alaska system.
In addition to art classes, the program requires students to complete courses in Alaska Native studies, Indigenous performing arts and a language class on beginning Tlingit, Haida or Tsimshian, as well as Northwest Coast design, art history and culture, art theory and practice, and career development for artists.
Museum Studies
Undergraduate and Graduate\SHI offers summer internships to undergraduate and graduate students at SHI in Juneau and the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Interns gain hands-on experience with cataloging museum collections, object storage management, and exhibition planning, research, and installation.
Art Studies
Arts and Science Degree
SHI offers summer internships to art students who are pursuing an arts and science degree, preferably with a focus on Northwest Coast or Alaska Native arts through studio arts, performing arts and technology, or creative writing.
Arts and Museum Studies
Arts and Science Degree
SHI offers scholarships to undergraduate or graduate students who are pursuing:
- Arts and science degrees with a focus in studio arts, performing arts, cinematic arts and technology, or creative writing, and which incorporate Northwest Coast Arts studies in their degree; or,
- A degree with a concentration in museum studies
Art students must be enrolled in NWC arts courses at the University of Alaska Southeast or arts courses at the Institute of American Indian Arts. Museum studies students must be enrolled full-time at a US college.
SHI
Northwest Coast Training.
We have a vision to make Juneau the NWC art capital, a quest that began with the construction of the Walter Soboleff Building, which is in itself a work of art and is adorned with monumental art pieces by three master indigenous artists of international acclaim. The creation of the NWC arts capital ensures the survival of NWC arts, providing untold sustainable social and economic benefits to the region and state.
SHI partners with Southeast Alaska school districts, tribes, nonprofit organizations, the University of Alaska Southeast and the Institute of American Indian Arts to carry out its art programming.
