Sealaska Celebration: Decade Old Screen

It's been 10 years already since I was asked to design a backdrop for the biannual Sealaska Celebration. They asked me to design and create a main "house screen" 18' x 48'. In addition to this main screen, they wanted two banners 21' x 12' of an eagle and a raven that would flank the main screen. 

The proposal asked for a tradition style that could represent Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimpshian tribes. It needed to be elegant yet simple enough so as not to distract from performances. The early backdrops caused special challenges to film crews, and Sealaska Heritage Institute decided to accommodate for better filming conditions. 

I had experience working with theater set design as a result of working with Perseverance Theater on Anita Maynard-Losh's "Tlingit Macbeth." I had the benefit of mentorship since I went to work on that set design with no prior theater experience. I also met really interesting, talented artists. One of them was Jennifer Morrell who was a set designer for Perseverance Theater back then. 

Jennifer agreed to help with the Sealaska project and helped me figure out the materials list, and with the process of transferring the design to the muslin material. Working out of the Perseverance Theater basement, we were just barely able to unroll 1/2 of the screen at a time. 

We were on a tight deadline, and often worked all day and into the early morning hours. Good music and strong coffee were essentials. Once we got into a routine, we were pretty confident we would have the main screen finished on schedule. When we were coming toward the finish line, SHI asked if we could cut out a doorway for dancers to enter through. This concerned Jennifer who worried that the screen would not hang evenly. A hole cut in the material would cause stress by that much weight being distributed differently than just hanging straight down. Still, it was their plan that the dancers needed that doorway. We kept it as minimal as possible and tried to reinforce it accordingly. 

We barely finished the Raven and Eagle banners, and I believe they weren't hung in 2004. Jennifer had to meet with the Sealaska crew who would be responsible for hanging and taking down the screen. It has to be packed a certain way, and hung a certain way to keep stretching minimal. The first time I saw it hanging, I was really proud. I was also amazed. This was the result of two people. My younger brother Alan also came for a few nights of painting. I liked the exhilarating feeling of having done a project of this scale. But I could not have done it without help. And I would not have even dreamed of doing something like this if I had not been in the right place at the right time to be asked by Anita the year before, to help with "Tlingit Macbeth." 

The way the puzzle pieces of our lives fit together make for amazing stories. We usually don't see the coincidences except in retrospect. It makes me feel smaller, and I can't take all credit. I just continue to participate. To create. To be only as big or small as I need to be.