A Tlingit robe turns a warrior's last stand into sacred clan property

A Tlingit artist in Juneau is beading a warrior's last stand into a clan robe — and next week she'll tell his story in public before the robe passes beyond the reach of any museum or gallery.

Tl'aagunk Renee Culp, the artist in residence at Sealaska Heritage Institute, is creating a beadwork robe depicting Kahtushtu, a Chookaneidí ancestor who strapped daggers to his wrists and went to fight a giant octopus that had been terrorizing his people. He was never seen again. Against red felt, white and silver beads trace the outline of the creature's tentacles. When the robe is finished, it becomes at.óow — sacred Tlingit clan property, a term that translates literally as "that which was paid for," usually with the life of an ancestor.

That's what separates the work from art as most people mean it. "Our pieces aren't just works of art. They're historical documents," Culp said as she beaded a tentacle. "At.óow has a soul, and it's connected to our people in that way. So to say that it's art — it definitely is, but it's so much more than that."

Culp came to beading late. Her grandmother tried to teach her at seven, and it didn't take. "I was too young to be sitting and doing something so patient," she said. "The lessons she taught me about beading and being an artist came after she was with the ancestors."

Culp will speak about the robe at a free public lecture from noon to 1 p.m. Tuesday, June 30, at the Shuká Hít Clan House in Juneau, also streamed on SHI's channel. A second free talk follows Wednesday, when French anthropologist Arnauld Chandivert presents research on traditional Southeast Alaska foods as a living heritage linking communities like Hoonah and Juneau to their histories.