Bellingham, Washington-based Tlingit artist Chloe French recently was an artist in residence at the Sheldon Jackson Museum in Sitka. Her work is inspired by Tlingit ceremonial bibs, but she adds her own twist to the tradition.
A table at the Sheldon Jackson museum displays a number of her bibs. French picks up a bib made of wool felt and has embroidery and beadwork outlining shapes of various animals.
It has a dark background with bursts of color–orange, yellow, blue, red.
“I collect the myths from around the Southeast,” French said. “One is a variation on the Raven steals the Sun, on this one, when raven steals the sun, the sun is in a bag, so when he flies out of the smoke hole, there’s no light. And he flies around and flies around and he lands on the bank of the Nass river and he calls to the people on the other side to come get him, and they refuse. So he throws the sun into the sky and the people on the other side of the river all turn into the animals of the pelts they’re wearing.”
While visiting Southeast Alaska as a child, French was captivated by the Native work she saw in museums here.
She remembers seeing a Chilkat robe and deciding that one day she wanted to make one. She wove one in 2008.
She also noticed the ceremonial bibs. The traditional versions are usually clan crest designs. The decoration is dense beadwork – no applique like French’s work.
“The ceremonial bibs, which are incredibly beautiful, are worn at special occasions and put away so if you’re not there, you’ll never see these bibs,” French said. “I decided I wanted a bib that you could wear anytime.”
French has been making bibs for five years. She’s never worked on traditional bibs and there’s sometimes a little tension between French and strict traditionalists.
“I do believe that for people who work in the traditional materials and only in traditional ways, that’s perfect too,” French said. “It’s wonderful. It’s just not what I’m interested in. I’ve always done my own thing. I’ve always been contrary.”
French starts with loose stitches to hold the shapes in place — or basting down the felt shapes.
“I start sewing them down and I’ll bead around the edges,” she said. “All of them are backed with fabric to cover up the stitches. And then usually I’ll decorate the edge with more beading. That’s the process. They take probably a month for each one to make.”
For French, the contemporary aspects of her work also have a deeper significance.
“We are not a gone, dead people,” she said. “We are as acquisitive as anybody else.”
