Local artist Teri Rofkar is going boldly into the future with new artwork that features modern materials and a political edge.
"It's not your grandfather's regalia," Rofkar said, with her customary sense of humor.
Creation of the two pieces for her "Tlingit Superman" series is being made possible with the help of a 2012 Creative Capital grant for visual artists, announced last week.
Rofkar was one of two dozen artists or art groups in the U.S. to receive the grant, and the first Alaskan chosen in the history of the program. The grant is worth about $90,000 over two years in funding and other assistance.
Creative Capital is known for giving a leg up to artists who push the envelope. A news release from the organization said the goal is to provide support for projects that are "singularly bold, innovative, genre stretching and of this moment; ideas of scope and ambition expressed through audacious combinations of form and content; varied projects that engage or even create new technologies and works that take traditional approaches into new carriers, teaching something new about the world and ourselves."
Rofkar's plans for projects that combine traditional weaving techniques with bulletproof material, and nano technology, definitely qualify in several of the categories.
Rofkar was pleased to receive the news about the grant, since she will be able to stretch her abilities and creativity, while combining her art with a political message.
"It's kind of fun; it's kind of exciting," she said.
Rofkar plans to draw on the tradition of robe-making for ceremonial use in Native American culture, by weaving modern composite materials into robes.
The first will be "Bulletproof Regalia," woven from Kevlar, which will symbolically address such issues as homeland security and the loss of land by tribes across the U.S.
Rofkar, who is Tlingit, loves the black and white poster of four Native Americans with rifles that says: "Homeland Security: Fighting Terrorism since 1492." She said she likes the idea of creating a traditional Tlingit robe that would offer protection in modern times, as a way of "integrating the homeland security concept."
The second piece, "Robe of Illumination," will be "programmable" with lights activated by sound or movement, and suitable for choreography rooted in — or new to — Native American ceremonial dancing. She said it will be light-sensitive and possibly woven out of optical fiber.
"These are political," she said. "I guess art sometimes is that; sometimes it's history and sometimes it's political. ... I want something that's going to inspire younger people to get involved and have integrated technology with dance, song and regalia."
Rofkar said Native art is seen as traditional art, and most people have a preconceived notion of what "Native art looks like." She likes the idea of changing those prejudices and expectations.
"In a few hundred years, this will be traditional," she said. "(Art) is our written language. If that's the medium for the language, we have to start thinking about what's happening today, and using materials that are available now."
She said she doesn't know whether either piece will be "marketable," but the grant from Creative Capital takes the pressure off. She hopes to feature the Kevlar piece at an international wearable art show in New Zealand, and has to be ready for auditioning the piece in June 2013. She also plans to exhibit one or both at Celebration 2014 in Juneau.
Rofkar has been busy lately, working on a mountain goat robe featuring a double-helix design representing DNA strains of two distinct mountain goat populations on Baranof Island. In November, she lectured at Oxford University in England about the science embedded in the traditional methods of spruce root basketry.
Besides getting started on her "Tlingit Superman" series, Rofkar is looking ahead to June 2012, when she will host a group of visiting conservators from the National Museum of the American Indian from the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., who are interested in the spruce root baskets discovered in Southeast that are more than 5,000 years old.
In Sitka, Rofkar said she plans to pair up the conservators with kids from the Sitka School District and staff from the Sitka Native Education Program for a project. Sheldon Jackson Museum will host public presentations. In Juneau, the Washington, D.C., scholars will study the ancient baskets currently housed at the Alaska State Museum. The project is the kickoff event for the Sitka Fine Arts Camp "Our Town" program.
The mountain goat robe Rofkar is working on is the 15th she has created. The two "Tlingit Superman" robes will be numbers 16 and 17. She estimated that each robe takes about 2,000 hours to create, since she follows the traditional freehand weaving techniques from some 6,000 years ago.
Information provided by Creative Capital said that Rofkar's goal is "to continue research and broaden awareness about traditional Native American crafts by expanding the discourse to include new stories. By combining innovative materials and themes with traditional techniques, Rofkar reflects the expanded relationship of Native people to a more global community."
Rofkar's work is on display at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C., and gives presentations nationally and internationally.
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Information from: Daily Sitka Sentinel, http://www.sitkasentinel.com/
