Learning from the Life’s Work of a Professional Artist
Banner image: Eagle Hat - acrylic on a hat woven by Judy Helgeson
Multimedia artist X̱ʼunei Lance Twitchell (Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska) works in Indigenous language revitalization, Tlingit language teaching and curriculum, poetry, screenwriting, Northwest Coast design, fiction, nonfiction, critical theory, music, and film.
Having practiced traditional arts for twenty-two years, he now creates in electronic media using a tablet, then transfers the designs to wood, leather, fabric, woven hats, and other items that are often made into dance regalia. He shares his knowledge through community workshops, university classes, a YouTube channel, and blog.
A First Peoples Fund (FPF) Cultural Capital fellow, Lance owns and operates his multi-media company Troubled Raven from Juneau, Alaska, where he lives with his wife and three children.
Lance entered Nathan Jackson’s (Tlingit) workshop, a space filled with the fresh scent of wood shavings. Staying with an auntie while finishing his education at the University of Alaska Southeast in Ketchikan, Lance was right across the road from the workshop of this world-renowned artist.
Nathan Jackson, a 2000 FPF Jennifer Easton Community Spirit Awards honoree, has practiced art for almost sixty years and is recognized for his traditional wood carvings, metalwork, and sculptures. He has created over fifty totem poles, some of which are found in museums in North America, Asia, and Europe.
Nathan welcomed Lance into his workshop. It was the first of many times that Lance would sit in the workshop and sip coffee as they talked about life, culture, and what it means to be a professional artist. All the while, Nathan kept working.
“I would go over in the mornings and show him some of my artwork,” Lance says. “I was always blown away with how productive and professional he is. I talked to him 10 years ago about doing a mentorship program, and he was excited. My [FPF] fellowship is helping bring that into reality.”
In addition to the support from First Peoples Fund for the mentorship, Lance also received funding through the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation.
With the 2020 shutdown, he and Nathan have not met in person very much, relying mostly on video conferencing to push forward with the mentorship. This comes with challenges on both ends — Nathan doesn’t use technology much, and it’s hard for Lance to see the intricate details of what he’s working on.
Though it’s slowed down the flow of knowledge, Lance is still absorbing critical lessons from Nathan and plans to write a book about his mentor’s life and work.
Lance spends his own life creating and pushing himself to understand the masters of long ago through their art, language, story, and song. He’s developing skills in metalwork and engraving with Nathan’s guidance.
“In my artwork, writing, and music, I want anyone to be able to see it and tell that it is not a mass-produced foreign imitation,” Lance says, “that it is made by a person who is always seeking to improve on craft, space, symbology, and cultural knowledge.”
