Teri Rofkar

Teri Rofkar, or Chas' Koowu Tla'a (1956 – 2016), was a Tlingit weaver and educator from Sitka, Alaska. She specialized in Ravenstail (Raven's Tail) designs and spruce root baskets.

Teri Rofkar
Born
Chas' Koowu Tla'a

(1956-09-27)September 27, 1956
San Rafael, California
DiedDecember 2, 2016(2016-12-02) (aged 60)
NationalityAmerican
Known forWeaving
Spouse(s)Denny Rofkar
Awardssee Awards section

Rofkar was born on September 27, 1956[1] in San Rafael, California and grew up in Pelican and Anchorage, Alaska.[2] In 1976 she moved to Sitka, Alaska, the town her grandmother was born in,[3] raising three children with her husband Denny Rofkar.[4] She died on December 2, 2016 at age 60.[2]

Rofkar learned weaving from her grandmother Eliza Monk, as well as Delores Churchill (Haida), Ernestine Hanlon-Abel (Tlingit) and Cheryl Samuel.[2] She began her professional career as a weaver in 1986.[5] She wove the first Tlingit robe made completely from mountain goat wool in more than two hundred years, but also worked with contemporary materials and technology.[1][5]

Methods of weaving

Rofkar specialized in twinning, a method of weaving, and a 6,000 year old practice. This method employed freehand looming, a long, continuous process that involves creating baskets and ceremonial robes from the roots of spruce trees.[6]

Activist life

Aside from her artwork, Rofkar was a community educator and researcher through her work as an artist and weaver. Throughout her life she cultivated awareness surrounding traditional Native American crafts by expanding the discourse surrounding them to include new stories and perspectives. Through this, Rokfar connected the histories of native people to the broader global community.[6]

Collections on display

Rokfar works can be seen on display at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.[7] and the Museum of the North in Fairbanks, Alaska.[8][6]

Awards and honors
  • In 2004, Rofkar won the Governor's Award for Native Art in Alaska.[9]
  • In 2006, she was selected for a USA Fellowship from United States Artists in the Crafts and Traditional Arts category.[10]
  • She was a recipient of a 2009 National Heritage Fellowship awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts, which is the United States government's highest honor in the folk and traditional arts.[11]
  • In 2012, she received the Creative Capital Visual Arts Award.[12]
  • In 2013, she received both the Distinguished Artist Award from the Rasmuson Foundation[9] and a Native Arts & Cultures Foundation Artist Fellowship.[12]
  • Rofkar also received an Ecotrust Indigenous Leadership Award (date unknown).[12]

References
  1. "Teri Rofkar". Daily Sitka Sentinel. Sitka, Alaska, United States. December 7, 2016. Retrieved January 1, 2017.
  2. Boots, Michelle Theriault (December 5, 2016). "Renowned Tlingit weaver Teri Rofkar dies at 60". Alaska Dispatch News. Anchorage, Alaska, United States. Retrieved January 1, 2017.
  3. Apathy, Erika (December 16, 2016). "Rofkar on Native culture and 'invisibility', 28 April 2014". KCAW. Sitka, Alaska, United States. Retrieved January 1, 2017.
  4. Bradley, Peter (August 8, 2016). "What We Talk About When We Talk About Climate Change". Artists and Climate Change. Retrieved January 1, 2017.
  5. Martin, Mary Catharine (October 6, 2015). "A Day in the Life of: Chas' Koowu Tla'a Teri Rofkar". Juneau Empire. Juneau, Alaska, United States. Retrieved January 1, 2017.
  6. "Teri Rofkar". Creative Capital. n.d. Retrieved January 16, 2021.
  7. "Tlingit basketry hat - Infinity of Nations: Art and History in the Collections of the National Museum of the American Indian - George Gustav Heye Center, New York". americanindian.si.edu. Retrieved March 24, 2020.
  8. "University of Alaska Museum | Museum of the North". www.uaf.edu. Retrieved March 24, 2020.
  9. "Teri Rofkar". Rasmuson Foundation. Retrieved March 4, 2017.
  10. "Teri Rofkar". United States Artists. 2015. Archived from the original on April 11, 2016. Retrieved January 16, 2021.
  11. "NEA National Heritage Fellowships 2009". www.arts.gov. National Endowment for the Arts. Archived from the original on September 28, 2020. Retrieved January 16, 2021.
  12. "Teri Rofkar". Native Arts and Cultures Foundation. 2016. Archived from the original on December 1, 2017. Retrieved January 16, 2021.

Official website

Teri Rofkar, Rasmuson Foundation Distinguished Artist 2013 (video)

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