Crystal Worl on the Water

February

We begin our 2020 exhibition season with a show of original paintings and carving by the Juneau-based mixed media artist and entrepreneur Crystal Worl (Tlingit/Athabascan). Worl has spent the last few years working on a variety of major projects, including making work for solo exhibitions at the Juneau Douglas City Museum, a two year apprenticeship with Robert Davidson (Haida), designing the sets and costumes for an original production by Alaska-based Perseverance Theater, and illustrating a new children’s book.

Stonington is excited to make available the original watercolor paintings from the trilingual children’s book, “Cradle Songs of Southeast Alaska”. This board book was published through Sealaska Heritage Institute’s Baby Raven Reads program. The book text includes lullabies in three languages–Tlingit, Haida, and Ts’msyen–and is newly available for wide release. These vivid watercolors are celebrations of communication between generations, and their bold colors connote the joy and strong sense-memories of childhood.

Worl writes, “In Tlingit oratory, there are several stories about Raven and the things he/she created. In these stories Raven has the magical ability to transform into various objects, beings, and super natural entities. Raven is a trickster, known for stealing the Sun, the Moon, and the Stars and lifted them into the sky so that humans and animals could see and live in light. In Tlingit oratory there are an abundance of stories about Raven’s journey to cultural knowledge and values. This series of paintings include imagery of subsistence lifestyle in Alaska with formline human and animal figures. Some of the works depict designs, patterns, and suggest a spiritual feeling that is about the bonds between the Tlingit and animals. This series of work demonstrates my love for Tlingit culture, design, and way of life.”

Exhibition Dates:

February 6, 2020 - February 29, 2020

Involved Artists:

Crystal Worl

Featured Works

Crystal Rose Demientieff Worl is Tlingit Athabascan from Raven moiety, Sockeye Clan, from the Raven House. She is a child of a Thunderbird and from the Chilkat region in Southeast Alaska. From her mother’s side, she is Deg Hit’an Athabascan from Fairbanks Alaska. Raised between Fairbanks and Juneau, she was introduced at a young age to her traditional arts, practices, and storytelling. In 2013 Crystal earned a Bachelor’s of Fine Art in Jewelry Metals and an Associate’s of Fine Art in Moving Images from the Institute of American Indian Arts. Crystal experiments with kiln-cast glass, printmaking, painting, and silversmithing. She recently began working with fish skin, seal gut-skin, and furs. Crystal studies traditional Tlingit formline design and Athabascan beadwork patterns. She experiments applying her designs within mixed media and performance, including aerial dancing. She practices the recreation and modernization of her Clan’s stories and Raven stories from home. Her work explores the relationships and bonds between her people, the land, and the animals.