Juneau School District Elementary Art Program
Art Activity Kit
the Chilkat Robe
Naaxein-Fringe around the body
GRADE: 3
TIME: 1 hour 15 minutes
Developed by Shgen George, Art Specialist
KIT INCLUDES:
- Lesson plan
- Vocabulary board
- Beginning of Chilkat legend board
- Chilkat flip boards with 9 magnetic robe
images(14 yellow)
- Student Chilkat robe images, 25 sets
- Sorting labels (3)
- Jennie Thlunaut flip boards (7 green)
- Materials flip boards (7 brown)
- Engage flip boards (3 blue)
- Group puzzle: Background robe, pattern
board, magnetic pieces, magnetic board
- Student puzzle masters: blank robe w/
lesson label, pieces, pattern board, 6 color
copies to guide coloring
- Hands on Materials:
o Pattern board
o Cedar bark templates
o Warp
o Weft
o Raw mountain goat wool
o Merino Wool roving
o Raw cedar bark
o Split cedar bark bundle
o Split cedar bark for spinning
MATERIALS NEEDED:
-
Scissors
Glue stick
Colored pencils
VOCABULARY:
- Paneled
- Distributive
- Configurative
- Warp
-
ART ELEMENTS:
Line
x Shape/Form
x Color
Value
Texture
Space/Perspective
LESSON DESCRIPTION:
Students study different design
styles of Chilkat robes and learn
about the materials used to
weave these robes. They then
assemble a paper puzzle robe,
piece by piece using a pattern
board as a guide, just as weavers
have done for centuries.
ART PRINCIPLES:
Pattern
Rhythm/movement
Proportion/Scale
x Balance
Unity
Emphasis
CONTENT
CONNECTIONS:
Social studies
OBJECTIVES AND ASSESSMENT CRITERIA:
..
Students will:
-
Identify the 3 styles of robes.
Encounter the materials used in making a Chilkat robe.
Use a pattern board as a guide to put together a Chilkat robe
puzzle.
PREPARE:
- Copy student puzzle parts: double sided blank Chilkat robe with lesson label on back, puzzle
pieces, and pattern board.
- Read the legend and familiarize yourself with the flip boards and descriptions on back.
Please note that the lesson plan and the descriptions on backs of flip boards are the SAME.
- Try the magnetic group puzzle yourself
ENCOUNTER: these descriptions are printed on the backs of images on flip boards
-
Beginning of Chilkat Board (yellow fold out): read the legend.
Chilkat flip boards (yellow):
o Chilkat robe, notice the fringe that hangs along the bottom edge of the robe.
o Dancer wearing the Chilkat dancing robe. The fringe is swinging out around his body
as he dances. The Tlingit name for Chilkat robe is Naaxein meaning fringe around the
body.
o Three elders and two youth wearing Chilkat robes and the headdresses that are
commonly worn when wearing a Chilkat robe.
 Chilkat weaving is an indigenous type of art form practiced along the northwest
coast by Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian.
 The Chilkat robe is a type of regalia used in ceremonies and dances. What are
other types of regalia used by Tlingit people? Button robes, tunics, carved hats,
cedar hats, headbands, ect.
o Diving whale design, it is sometimes hard to see the designs in robes if you don’t know
what to look for. Notice the two eyes on the bottom of the design, this is the head of
the whale. The face in the middle represents the body of the whale. The top shows
two tail flukes. Notice how the whale is pointed downward as if it is diving deep.
 Keep your eyes on this design as the white paper is removed from between the
transparence and the robe.
 Ask the students what makes is hard to see the design once it is on the robe? All
the details surrounding it.
o Robe images:
 Robe 1: shows the Gunakadeit, Ask the class what things they notice about the
design.
 Robe 2: shows an Eagle and two Killerwhales. Compare the design styles of this
robe and the Gunakadeit design on robe 1.
 Robe 3: shows a diving whale. Which of the first 2 robes is most similar to this
robe. Why?
o Introduce “Chilkat Robes” thumbnails as the cards students will be working with, also
display separate full size images (on a white magnetic board if possible).
 Discuss sorting; students can sort in any way they like. Encorage sorting for
design characteristics such as common elements like the “Chilkat face” or “lots of
detail”
 Model sorting and sharing with magnetic cards. I put these robes together
because….
o Independent sorting
 Hand out student cards, begin sorting
 Walk around to hear each student describe at least 1 sorted group to you.
o Guided sorting
 Show robe 2 and ask students to find it in their cards
 Ask the class what other robe they might put in a group with it.
 Look for students holding up robes 4 or 5 and display these 3 robes as a group.
 Ask what makes them similar. “They all show designs that are easy to see, its easy
to see the figure of the animal.”
 These types of robes are called “Configurative”, ask the class to repeat it to you.
 Show robe 6 and ask the class to find it in their cards
-
-
 Ask how this robe is different than the configurative robes, “the design has more
detail and it is harder to see the animal figure.” Point out the two white lines that
divide the robe into 3 sections or panels.
 Display this robe and ask the class to find two more robes that are divided in to
panels,
 Look for students holding up robes 1 and 3. These types of robes are called
“Paneled” ask the class to repeat it to you.
 There should be three robes left, 7,8, and 9.
 Ask how these robes are different or similar to the other two groups.
 These robes are called “Distributive” because the design fills the whole robe, it is
distributed across the entire robe.
 Student put their robe cards away and gather back in a group.
Jennie Thlunaut flip boards (green):
o Jennie Thlunaut was a weaver who recognized that Chilkat weaving was being lost,
young people were not learning how to weave.
o She realized this and tried to teach as many people as she could. She is using a
pattern board to show a student how to weave.
o Jennie wove 50 robes in her life. It can take 1-2 years to gather the materials and then
weave a robe.
o These are a few of the robes she wove:
 Herring Rock belonging to the Kixadi, frog clan from Sitka
 Raven
 Wolf
 Wolf
Material flip boards (brown):
o It can take 1-2 years to make a robe if you weave full time, materials gathering and
prep: 6 months to a year, weaving: 6 months to a year. Both men and women helped
in the making of a robe.
o Ask the class what materials they think are used in a robe. They might say yarn, tell
them yes and that it is called warp. Show the warp sample, warp is the main part of
what a robe is made of. It is special because you cannot go to the store and buy it, you
have to make it yourself. Notice the brown parts in the warp that hangs down, what do
they think that is? Some might say a part of a plant? Yes, bark from a cedar tree.
o Materials flip boards: show images and pass the samples around that go with them,
read descriptions from backs.
 Mountain Goat: Pass mountain goat wool, merino wool roving. Men would hunt
the mountain goat and the woman would have to pull all the wool from the skin
and then take the hair out of the wool. It takes the wool from 3 mountain goats to
weave a robe.
 Cedar(2 boards): Pass cedar bark in three forms; raw, split bundle, and ready
to spin split bark.
• Women gathered bark to use in spinning the warp. First the bark was sliced
and pulled away from the tree.
• It was ideal to pull from the side of a tree facing an upward slope so you
could walk up the slope as you pulled the bark. Once pulled off, the cedar
bark was split to remove the rough outer bark. It was then coiled for packing
and stored until it would be used.
• When it is time to use the bark it is soaked in water to soften it and then split
into the desired size.
 Spinning: Pass the warp(hangs from the loom) again and weft(weaves the design)
• Wool and cedar bark are spun together to make the warp, wool is spun to
make the weft
 Cedar bark templates and pattern board: Pass ovoid template and pattern board
• Templates were made to match the shapes on the pattern board so that the
weaver could make sure the right size and shape were made. The men
made the pattern boards and designs that were painted on them. A pattern
board may be used again and again, that is why we sometimes see robes
with very similar designs.
 Materials and Loom: the loom supports the weaving. Warp hangs from the loom
as the weaver works. The weaving is cut off the loom when the robe is finished.
This image shows all the materials together and a loom that has been warped to
make a headband and a finished headband in the front.
ENGAGE:
-
-
-
Weaving a robe flip boards (blue):
o Today we will use a pattern board as a guide, just as Chilkat weavers do. Image shows
a woman weaving using a pattern board as her guide.
o A robe is woven in sections starting with the middle section. Look at the middle section
on the started robe. Then when one section on one side is woven the same is done on
the other. Notice the left side of the robe is started and if you look closely you can see
the same is started on the other, behind her head. (Image of partially finished robe,
Mary Williams from the Raven clan, Klukwan.)
o Show the real wood pattern board again and the robe image that goes with the student
puzzle. Ask the class what they notice about the design on the pattern board
compared to the design on the completed robe.
o A pattern board shows only the middle and one side of the robe design. Ask the class
why they think this might be. It is because a Chilkat robe is symmetrical. The pattern
only needs to show one side because the other side is exactly the same. Show this by
flipping the overlay to the incomplete side.
Group Puzzle
o Today the class will be thinking like weavers to put together a puzzle. Students will use
a pattern board, show the paper pattern board, to guide them in putting this puzzle
together. They will start in the middle section, point out the middle of the design on the
pattern board and find the 3 middle pieces that match. They will work section by
section to complete the robe. If they find a piece on one side they will also find the
matching piece on the other side. Complete the group magnetic puzzle.
Student puzzles
o Students get worksheets of: blank robe, pieces, pattern board
o Students need: glue, scissors
o Groups need: color image and colored pencils
 Remind the class that they should look at the side of the pattern board to find the
middle of the design on the robe. There are four pieces that make up the middle.
REFLECT:
-
-
Gather back together and talk about what was hard and easy when putting the puzzle
together. Ask; would a weaver weave from the top down or bottom up? Which way was
easier to do when putting the puzzle together? Many students find it easier to put the large
bottom piece on first and work their way up.
Review the design styles: Paneled, Distributive, and Configurative.
Look at Jennie’s robes (on the green boards) and discuss her style. Many of her robes
combined both paneled and configurative.