Clarissa Rizal (June 4, 1956 – December 7, 2016) was a Tlingit artist of Filipino descent.
She was best known as a
Chilkat and
Ravenstail weaver, but she also worked in painting, printmaking, carving, and sculpting.
Personal life
Rizal was born on June 4, 1956, in
Juneau, Alaska
The City and Borough of Juneau, more commonly known simply as Juneau ( ; tli, Dzánti K'ihéeni ), is the capital city of the state of Alaska. Located in the Gastineau Channel and the Alaskan panhandle, it is a unified municipality and the se ...
, with the last name of Lampe.
Through her mother, she is of the T'ak Dein Taan (black-legged kittywake) clan of Hoonah/Glacier Bay.
She also produced works for a time using the married name of Hudson. Rizal raised a son and two daughters; both daughters are weavers.
The daughters,
Lily Hope Lily Hope (born 1980) is an Alaska Native artist, designer, teacher, weaver, Financial Freedom planner, and community facilitator. She is primarily known for her skills at weaving customary Northwest Coast ceremonial regalia such as Chilkat robes a ...
and
Ursala Hudson
Ursala Hudson is an Alaska Native textile artist, graphic designer, and fashion designer. She also photographs and paints. She creates Chilkat weaving, including dance regalia, belts, collars, and earrings.
Biography and education
Hudson identi ...
, weave and teach in Alaska and other states.
[ ] Rizal died on December 7, 2016, in
Pagosa Springs, Colorado
The Town of Pagosa Springs (Ute dialect, Ute language: Pagwöösa, Navajo language: Tó Sido Háálį́) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule municipality that is the county seat, the most populous community ...
.
Apprenticeship and writing
When in her twenties, Rizal apprenticed under
Jennie Thlunaut
Jennie Thlunaut (–1986) was a Tlingit artist, who is credited with keeping the art of Chilkat weaving alive and was one of the most celebrated Northwest Coastal master weavers of the 20th century.Brown, Steven C. ''Native Visions: Evolution in ...
to learn Chilkat weaving.
Thlunaut was in her 90s. In 2005, Rizal published a book titled ''Jennie Weaves an Apprentice: A Chilkat Weaver's Handbook''. It won a 2007–08 Honoring Alaska's Indigenous Literature Award from the Alaska Native Knowledge Network at
University of Alaska, Fairbanks
The University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF or Alaska) is a public land-grant research university in College, Alaska, a suburb of Fairbanks. It is the flagship campus of the University of Alaska system. UAF was established in 1917 and opened for cla ...
.
Rizal contributed illustrations to the children's book ''Mary's Wild Winter Feast'' (2014).
Awards and honors
Rizal also received awards for her artwork. She won a 2013 Artist Fellowship from the Rasmuson Foundation. In 2015, Rizal received a Native Arts & Cultures Foundation National Artist Fellowship. She was a 2011 and 2016 First Peoples Fund Cultural Capital Fellow.
Rizal was a recipient of a 2016
National Heritage Fellowship
The National Heritage Fellowship is a lifetime honor presented to master folk and traditional artists by the National Endowment for the Arts. Similar to Japan's Living National Treasure award, the Fellowship is the United States government's h ...
awarded by the
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...
, which is the United States government's highest honor in the folk and traditional arts. Her mentor
Jennie Thlunaut
Jennie Thlunaut (–1986) was a Tlingit artist, who is credited with keeping the art of Chilkat weaving alive and was one of the most celebrated Northwest Coastal master weavers of the 20th century.Brown, Steven C. ''Native Visions: Evolution in ...
received the same award in 1986.
One of the last robes on which Rizal worked was a collaborative effort, ''Weavers Across the Water.''
At least fifty weavers either submitted squares or helped Rizal in other ways. The squares were woven together into a single robe. It was first worn by master carver Wayne Price at the dedication of a new Huna tribal house in Glacier Bay. Rizal then took the robe to Washington, DC, for the NEA award event.
References
Further reading
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Rizal, Clarissa
1956 births
2016 deaths
20th-century American artists
21st-century American artists
20th-century Native Americans
21st-century Native Americans
American weavers
Artists from Alaska
Native American textile artists
Tlingit people
Women textile artists
National Heritage Fellowship winners
20th-century Native American women
21st-century Native American women
Textile artists