Sneak Preview

There is a street below our house that I walk everyday on my way to pick up Andrew from school. Over the last three weeks I have caught glimpses of a man working on something in his backyard.

He began by chipping away at a block of wood, next he was hollowing it out. Last week I saw the block take on a cone shape and he was smoothing the surface with a hand sander. It was during my second stretched-neck peek of the day that I recognized his project as the early stages of a Tlingit Ceremonial Hat. I was dying to talk to him and get the details of what he was doing...but I waited.

(Had I my mother’s personality he would probably be my best friend by now and I would have signed him up to volunteer for the school board…but, believe it or not, I’m shy.)

I let a few days go by and one evening over dinner I shared my sightings with Steve. Steve mentioned that the hat maker should use the shop at the school when it’s too cold to work outside and thought maybe the hat maker would be willing to share his talents with the students at the school. (See why my Mom and Steve get along so well) Well, Steve’s idea was the perfect lead for me to approach the hat maker. I waited for the right time. Wednesday I was on my way to have lunch with Andrew when I saw the hat maker sitting on a woodstump in his backyard. I had to stop. I got up the nerve to politely ask if I could interrupt him.

He didn’t mind talking at all. And can you believe it? He even let me take a couple of pictures :)

His name is Herb, he and his 20 year-old son make masks, bentwood boxes and Ceremonial Head dresses for Tlingit events. Five years ago they began training at an art school on another island. His son is the youngest artist in Alaska’s Southeast. Herb is working on three hats as gifts for an upcoming festival in late April. One will be a raven, one will be an eagle, and one will be plain with a painted design on the sides. The raven and plain pieces are pictured. The eagle is still in an unrecognizable state. He held up a small blade bound with rope to a piece wood and informed me that he hand-crafted all his own tools. He explained the different woods that he uses to carve the designs…hemlock is not one of them, “that’s only good for burning.” All three Tlingit hats should be finished just in time for the spring presentation. Surprisingly to me, Herb shared that his art has never been sold for profit.