Kelsey Foote (sometimes Kelsey Mata Foote) is a Native American illustrator and artist. A member of the Tlingit tribe, she is known for her work in children's picture books and digital art that portray Indigenous characters and ways of life.
Her work debuted in the public sphere with Celebration! (2022), a book authored by Tlingit weaver Lily Hope and produced as part of the Sealaska Heritage Institute's Baby Raven Reads program, which aims to promote and preserve Indigenous languages and cultures through children's literature. [1] [2] In 2024, Foote and Hope were announced as recipients of the 2024 American Indian Youth Literature Awards - Picture Book Honor during the American Library Association’s Youth Media Awards, an award that "identifies and honors the best writings and illustrations for youth, by and about Native American and Indigenous peoples of North America." [3]
Both Foote and her brother, artist Nick Alan Foote, were the selected illustrators and character designers for a long-term language revitalization project between the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska (Tlingit & Haida), the Goldbelt Heritage Foundation, Cedar Group, and several language and culture specialists. The collaboration spans nine children’s books and animated shorts in total, entirely in the Tlingit language. The first book, Kuhaantí (2023), was released in October 2023 in Juneau, Alaska. [4] [5]
In August 2024, it was announced that Foote would be working alongside Cree and Taino author, Violet Duncan, on a children's picture book to be published in Spring 2027 by Nancy Paulsen Books under Penguin Random House. [6]
The Tlingit or Lingít are Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America and constitute two of the 231 federally recognized Tribes of Alaska. Most Tlingit are Alaska Natives; however, some are First Nations in Canada.
Totem poles are monumental carvings found in western Canada and the northwestern United States. They are a type of Northwest Coast art, consisting of poles, posts or pillars, carved with symbols or figures. They are usually made from large trees, mostly western red cedar, by First Nations and Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast including northern Northwest Coast Haida, Tlingit, and Tsimshian communities in Southeast Alaska and British Columbia, Kwakwaka'wakw and Nuu-chah-nulth communities in southern British Columbia, and the Coast Salish communities in Washington and British Columbia.
The Tlingit language is spoken by the Tlingit people of Southeast Alaska and Western Canada and is a branch of the Na-Dene language family. Extensive effort is being put into revitalization programs in Southeast Alaska to revive and preserve the Tlingit language and culture.
Atlin Lake is the largest natural lake in the Canadian province of British Columbia. The lake is 6.44 kilometres (4.00 mi) wide and 137 kilometres (85 mi) long. The northern tip of the lake is in the Yukon, as is Little Atlin Lake. However, most of the lake lies within the Atlin District of British Columbia. Atlin Lake is generally considered to be the source of the Yukon River although it is drained via the short Atlin River into Tagish Lake. Atlin Lake was named by the Tlingit First Nation people of the region.
Sealaska Corporation is one of thirteen Alaska Native Regional Corporations created under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971 (ANCSA) in settlement of aboriginal land claims. Headquartered in Juneau, Alaska, Sealaska is a for-profit corporation with more than 23,000 Alaska Native shareholders primarily of Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian descent.
Nora Marks Keixwnéi Dauenhauer was a Tlingit poet, short-story writer, and Tlingit language scholar from Alaska. She won an American Book Award for Russians in Tlingit America: The Battles of Sitka, 1802 And 1804. Nora was Alaska State Writer Laureate from 2012 - 2014.
Richard Dauenhauer was an American poet, linguist, and translator who married into, and subsequently became an expert on, the Tlingit nation of southeastern Alaska. He was married to the Tlingit poet and scholar Nora Marks Dauenhauer. With his wife and Lydia T. Black, he won an American Book Award for Russians in Tlingit America: The Battles of Sitka, 1802 And 1804. He has translated works into German, Russian, Finnish, and Classical Greek.
Ernestine Saankaláxt Hayes is a Tlingit author and an Emerita professor at the University of Alaska Southeast in Juneau, Alaska. She belongs to the Wolf House of the Kaagwaaataan clan of the Eagle side of the Tlingit Nation. Hayes is a memoirist, essayist, and poet. She served as Alaska State Writer Laureate 2017–2018.
Celebration is a biennial Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian cultural event held during the first week of June in Juneau, Alaska, United States that occurs once every two years.
Walter Alexander Soboleff was a Tlingit scholar, elder and religious leader. Soboleff was the first Native Alaskan to become an ordained Presbyterian minister.
Canyon Island is an island in the City and Borough of Juneau, Alaska, United States. Located in the Taku River, it is 2.5 miles (4.0 km) northeast of the mouth of the Wright River and 32 miles (51 km) northeast of the city of Juneau.
Rosita Kaaháni Worl is an American anthropologist and Alaska Native cultural, business and political leader. She is president of the Sealaska Heritage Institute, a Juneau-based nonprofit organization that preserves and advances the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian Native cultures of Southeast Alaska, and has held that position since 1997. She also served on the board of directors of the Sealaska regional Native corporation for 30 years, beginning in 1987, including as board vice president. The corporation, with more than 22,000 shareholders, founded the heritage institute and provides substantial funding.
Lily Hope is an Alaska Native artist, designer, teacher, weaver, Financial Freedom planner, and community facilitator. She is primarily known for her skills at weaving customary Northwest Coast ceremonial regalia such as Chilkat robes and ensembles. She owns a public-facing studio in Juneau, called Wooshkindein Da.àat: Lily Hope Weaver Studio which opened downtown in 2022. Lily Hope is a mother of five children, and works six days a week.
Michaela Goade is a Native American illustrator. A member of the Tlingit and Haida tribes, she is known for her work on picture books about Indigenous people. She won the 2021 Caldecott Medal for her illustrations in We Are Water Protectors and is the first Indigenous artist to receive the award. Her book, Berry Song, was a Caldecott Honor book in 2023.
Lance X̱ʼunei Twitchell is an American scholar, poet, and language revitalization advocate. He works as an associate professor of Alaska Native Languages at the University of Alaska Southeast. He has written for "Molly of Denali".
Ellen Hope Hays was the first Alaska Native woman to be appointed superintendent of a national park. During her 16-year career with the National Park Service, she worked to teach and preserve the culture of Alaska Natives.
Vicki Lee Soboleff is a Haida and Tlingit artist, dancer, and teacher who specializes in Haida basketry. She was awarded the Margaret Nick Cooke Award in 2016 from the Alaska State Council on the Arts and the Alaska Humanities Forum for her work with Alaska Native dance.
Amos Louis Wallace (1920–2004) was a Tlingit artist from Juneau, Alaska. His Tlingit name was "Jeet Yaaw Dustaa.", of the Tlingit Clan Raven Moiety, T’akdeintaan Clan of Hoonah.
A wooden halibut hook is a type of fish hook, historically used by the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast to catch Pacific halibut. In addition to their utilitarian function, wooden halibut hooks have artistic value, and spiritual significance to the cultures that traditionally used them. Rarely used for fishing in the late 20th century, and appreciated more as art objects, they are undergoing a comeback for subsistence fishing in the early 21st century, and have several benefits in day to day use.
Nick Alan is a Native American artist and children’s book illustrator. As a member of the Tlingit tribe, he is recognized for his contributions to children's picture books that aim to revitalize the Tlingit language and strengthen cultural heritage.
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