“Long ago there lived on the Skeena River, in British Columbia, a Tsimshian woman, a widow, of the village of Kitkatla, and her only daughter, ‘Hi-you-was clar’ (rain mother). It had been a season of extreme want. The deep snows of winter still covered the lowlands, and the spirit of hunger stalked abroad as a famished wolf. Day after day the girl sat, half dazed from want of food, staring vacantly at the intricately carved and painted picture that covered the rear partition of the house; for, although poor, they were of high caste, and their surroundings spoke of past greatness. The picture finally took possession of her, and setting up a rude frame, she forgot her suffering, and lost herself in the work of weaving an apron of like design.”
— George Emmons
Sometime In the last decades of the 18th century, someone, probably a Tsimshian woman, wove the world’s first perfect circle, and doing so she changed her society. Her circle weaving technique made it possible to replicate in tapestry the formline designs used for centuries to display wealth. Now the elite could display pictures directly calling to mind their place in the world. This single advance altered the ceremonial and wealth structure of all the northwest coast tribes. In less than a generation dancing blankets woven with her techniques became incredibly valuable among the Tlingit, Tsimshian, and Haida replacing all previous styles. Curiously, her weaving style came to be known for a Tlingit band; the Chilkat.
The Chilkat weaving style quickly became dominant on the northwest coast because it fit so well into their value system. The rights and privileges to display one’s ancestry and personal relationships to ancestral figures, form the basis for reckoning personal wealth. These relationships, and stories of them, were displayed in stylized crests and figures. The art form used is characterized by a continuous line joining figure elements, which Bill Holm called the formline. Unlike previous weaving techniques, a Chilkat robe offered the wearer the chance to display their family and personal crests in formline.
The precise origins and evolution of weaving techniques among the peoples of the northwest coast is unknown. It’s likely that the earliest blankets were woven from plant materials; however examples have long since been lost. The damp environment is just not conducive to long term storage of woven objects. At some point, weavers switched from plant fibers to mountain goat wool and the fur from an extinct breed of dog. Few examples of pre-contact weaving have survived. From them it was concluded that an unknown ancient form of twined weaving evolved into the three styles; Salish, Raven’s Tail, and Chilkat.
Early Salish blankets are plain white some with patterns on the edges. They are usually woven in a twill pattern. Raven’s Tail blanket patterns are geometric of black, yellow, or blue-green on a white background. Some blankets have figures using a facial pattern. Chilkat blankets are characterized by curvilinear designs and forms constructed of colored areas.
Woven Salish Blankets are constructed using different tools and methodology. It is fair to conclude that Salish weavers represent a separate tradition. Paul Kane painted a Salish woman weaving at a traditional loom. Her loom uses a lower beam to tension the warp (a weaving’s lengthwise threads). As an aside, Kane painted a small dog into this image which may represent the appearance of the extinct Salish wool-dog.
Raven’s Tail and Chilkat blankets were woven on frames with the warp supported only at the top. The warp strands were enclosed in gut bags and some weavers tensioned them by adding stones to the bags. Weaving was done by twining; twisting the weavers (weft or crosswise threads) around the warp yarn by hand. This technique is identical to that used by northern basket twiners; where the basket warp strands hang freely from a supported form.
Only 15 examples of ancient Raven’s Tail weaving are known to exist in collections around the world. So the true extent of Raven’s Tail patterns can’t be known. Examples of Raven’s Tail weaving were first described and collected by the Russians in the late-18th century. Possibly the most famous robe was collected by Captain Benjamin Swift in about 1800. The blanket was donated to the Peabody Museum at Harvard in 1909. It is very striking because two patterns are used on the same robe. Bill Holm has featured this blanket in his artwork.
Raven’s Tail blankets are rectangular with warp fringe on one edge and weft fringe on two edges. The top of the blanket is usually trimmed with sea otter fur. At least some were fur lined. A characteristic of Raven’s Tail weaving is that each weft strand twines around the warp strands from left to right, starting and ending on a single row. Weaving is always done from one side to the other. Designs in the fabric are created by varying the color of the yarn, the number of warp strands twisted together, and adding surface braids; all techniques practiced in basket weaving.
Raven’s Tail weaving, while beautiful, limits the represented figures to fairly angular forms. From figure 1 you can see from the box of daylight pattern that the designs are rectangular. Looking more closely one can imagine combining the sloping lines from the chevrons at the side into the box to form an octagon. Extrapolating further one can approximate a circle with very small straight lines. But the traditional formline representations widely used in other northwest coast art cannot be represented, alternative forms were needed. As the story by Emmons describes, a formline representation had to wait for the invention of the woven circle.
The key to weaving a perfect circle is breaking the single pass weft paradigm. In Chilkat weaving the weft threads rarely travel the entire width of the weaving; they zig-zag back and forth within each figure. Additionally, Chilkat blankets are five sided.
The warp yarn in both styles was traditionally spun by hand against the spinner’s leg. The yarn is two ply and the warp yarns are rather bulky. Indigenous weavers recognized that Raven’s Tail warp yarn does not adequately support circular figures. So they spun a small strip of yellow cedar bark into the Chilkat warp to add stiffness. This allows the yarn to resist side pulling and to preserve its direction while supported unevenly. This was never an issue with Raven’s Tail weaving as the weft threads travel the entire span of the weaving.
From the close of the 19th century, and into the 20th, cultural suppression nearly resulted in the loss of Chilkat weaving. In 1907 George Emmons estimated that only about 15 Chilkat weavers remained. It is possible that by the mid-20th century there was only a single remaining master Chilkat weaver; Jennie Thlunaut of Klukwan. Jennie was taught to weave by her mother at the turn of the 20th century. She continued to weave in the Chilkat style long enough for interest to return to the art, and she is recognized as having saved it from extinction.
Modern times
In the early 1980’s Cheryl Samuel, a student of Bill Holm, recognized a previously unknown form of weaving while researching Chilkat techniques. Cheryl encouraged by Bill took the time to replicate the techniques she discovered, and to search for more examples. After she had learned the process she wove the first Raven’s Tail blanket to be made in about 200 years. She refined her technique and shared her knowledge with other weavers. Her book The Ravens Tail is still the primary reference on Raven’s Tail techniques and she is credited with reviving this art. She continues to weave and to teach the art.
There has also been a revival of Chilkat weaving, and it is safe to say that more robes have been produced since 1980 than were woven in the previous 100 years.
Learning More
I learned the techniques from John Beard. He offers classes in Raven’s Tail and Navajo weaving at the Damascus fiber arts school. He is a wonderful instructor, very patient and quite talented.
Every once in a while Cheryl Samuel gives seminars in Gig Harbor. Her health is not the best, so I’m not sure how long that will continue.
There is also the Raven’s Tail weavers guild in Juneau Alaska. Kay Parker is a wealth of information.
Kay Parker
2990 Douglas Hwy
Juneau, AK 99801
kfparker@gci.net