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{{short description|Native American weaver and educator}}
{{Short description|Native American weaver and educator (1956–2016)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2020}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2020}}
{{Infobox artist
{{Infobox artist
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| birth_name = Chas' Koowu Tla'a
| birth_name = Chas' Koowu Tla'a
| birth_date = {{birth date|1956|9|27|mf=y}}
| birth_date = {{birth date|1956|9|27|mf=y}}
| birth_place = [[San Rafael, California]]
| birth_place = [[San Rafael, California]], U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|2016|12|2|1956|9|27|mf=y}}
| death_date = {{death date and age|2016|12|2|1956|9|27|mf=y}}
| death_place =
| death_place =
| nationality = American
| nationality =
| education =
| education =
| movement =
| movement =
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}}
}}


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


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


Rofkar learned weaving from her grandmother Eliza Monk, as well as [[Delores Churchill]] (Haida), Ernestine Hanlon-Abel (Tlingit) and Cheryl Samuel.{{r|Boots}} She began her professional career as a weaver in 1986.{{r|Martin}} 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.{{r|sentinel}}{{r|Martin}}
Rofkar learned weaving from her grandmother Eliza Monk, as well as [[Delores Churchill]] (Haida), Ernestine Hanlon-Abel (Tlingit) and Cheryl Samuel.{{r|Boots}} She began her professional career as a weaver in 1986.{{r|Martin}} 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.{{r|sentinel}}{{r|Martin}}
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* In 2012, she received the [[Creative Capital]] Visual Arts Award.<ref name="NACF"/>
* In 2012, she received the [[Creative Capital]] Visual Arts Award.<ref name="NACF"/>
* In 2013, she received both the Distinguished Artist Award from the Rasmuson Foundation<ref name="rasmuson"/> and a Native Arts & Cultures Foundation Artist Fellowship.<ref name="NACF">{{Cite web|url=http://www.nacf.us/teri-rofkar|title=Teri Rofkar |date=2016|website=Native Arts and Cultures Foundation|access-date=January 16, 2021|language=en-US |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201032254/http://www.nacf.us/teri-rofkar |archive-date=December 1, 2017 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
* In 2013, she received both the Distinguished Artist Award from the Rasmuson Foundation<ref name="rasmuson"/> and a Native Arts & Cultures Foundation Artist Fellowship.<ref name="NACF">{{Cite web|url=http://www.nacf.us/teri-rofkar|title=Teri Rofkar |date=2016|website=Native Arts and Cultures Foundation|access-date=January 16, 2021|language=en-US |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201032254/http://www.nacf.us/teri-rofkar |archive-date=December 1, 2017 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
* Rofkar also received an Ecotrust Indigenous Leadership Award (date unknown).<ref name="NACF"/>
* In 2004, Rofkar received an Ecotrust Indigenous Leadership Award.<ref name="NACF"/>


==References==
==References==
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| last =Apathy
| last =Apathy
| first = Erika
| first = Erika
| title =Rofkar on Native culture and ‘invisibility’, 28 April 2014
| title =Rofkar on Native culture and 'invisibility', 28 April 2014
| newspaper = KCAW
| newspaper = KCAW
| location =Sitka, Alaska, United States
| location =Sitka, Alaska, United States
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[[Category:1956 births]]
[[Category:1956 births]]
[[Category:2016 deaths]]
[[Category:2016 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Native Americans]]
[[Category:20th-century Native American artists]]
[[Category:21st-century Native Americans]]
[[Category:21st-century Native American artists]]
[[Category:American textile artists]]
[[Category:Alaska Native women]]
[[Category:American weavers]]
[[Category:Weavers from Alaska]]
[[Category:Artists from Alaska]]
[[Category:Artists from Alaska]]
[[Category:National Heritage Fellowship winners]]
[[Category:National Heritage Fellowship winners]]
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[[Category:Native American textile artists]]
[[Category:Native American textile artists]]
[[Category:Northwest Coast art]]
[[Category:Northwest Coast art]]
[[Category:Tlingit people]]
[[Category:Sitka Tribe of Alaska people]]
[[Category:People from Sitka, Alaska]]
[[Category:People from Sitka, Alaska]]
[[Category:Women basketweavers]]
[[Category:American women basket weavers]]
[[Category:Women textile artists]]
[[Category:American basket weavers]]
[[Category:American women textile artists]]
[[Category:20th-century Native American women]]
[[Category:20th-century Native American women]]
[[Category:21st-century Native American women]]
[[Category:21st-century Native American women]]
[[Category:Textile artists from Alaska]]
[[Category:Textile artists from California]]
[[Category:Tlingit women artists]]
[[Category:Tlingit artists]]

Latest revision as of 02:44, 5 August 2024

Teri Rofkar
Rofkar in 2016
Born
Chas' Koowu Tla'a

(1956-09-27)September 27, 1956
San Rafael, California, U.S.
DiedDecember 2, 2016(2016-12-02) (aged 60)
Known forWeaving
SpouseDenny Rofkar
Awardssee Awards section

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.

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

[edit]

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

[edit]

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

[edit]

Rofkar's 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

[edit]
  • 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]
  • In 2004, Rofkar received an Ecotrust Indigenous Leadership Award.[12]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b "Teri Rofkar". Daily Sitka Sentinel. Sitka, Alaska, United States. December 7, 2016. Retrieved January 1, 2017.
  2. ^ a b c 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. ^ a b 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. ^ a b c "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. ^ a b "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. ^ a b c "Teri Rofkar". Native Arts and Cultures Foundation. 2016. Archived from the original on December 1, 2017. Retrieved January 16, 2021.
[edit]
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