Sheldon Jackson Museum, Sitka, Alaska
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Button Blankets were typically used as ceremonial robes and were often given as gifts at ceremonial potlatches for use as ceremonial robes. They are worn over the back.
Before contact with Europeans, blankets were made from shredded cedar bark, dog fur or wool. After the introduction of trade blankets to the Kwakwaka’wakw by the Hudson Bay Company, artists began designing the cloth with crest designs done in red flannel appliqué, and abalone shell beads and buttons. Today, button blankets are a highly regarded art form.
What inspired it?
“Button blankets are important. When you wear your blanket people immediately know who you are and what house you come from.”—button blanket seamstress Fanny Smith.
The designs on the blankets are narrative art that signal the owners’ tribe identity, status, and hereditary rights and privileges.
Ravens, bears, and whales are just a few examples of animals that are incorporated in the design of the blankets.
Button Blankets are often used as ceremonial clothing, and are still used in ceremonies today; imagine the stunning visual effect of flickering firelight reflecting off the iridescent buttons of robed dancers.
The increased presence of Button Blankets in Northwestern communities was due to the availability of the materials through cross-cultural contact in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. For example, the Europeans would trade the wool blankets in exchange for items like animals pelts.
How is it made?
“When I am working on button blankets, I feel that I’m ‘sculpting on cloth,’ my scissors being like a chisel and hammer to a sculptor.”—artist Dorothy Grant
In addition to these materials, some contemporary examples can also include plastic buttons . . . beads, and metal decorations.
Button blankets are most often created collaboratively. One person designs the robe, and another sews. Today, button blankets are a highly regarded art form.
Details
Bold use of color
The simplified color palette with the predominantly red, black, and white, with glimmers of color from the buttons, allow for the blanket’s intricate design to stand out with a vibrant presence. The contrasting colors, combined with the large scale, can grab the viewer’s attention, even from a distance.
Geometric and representational shapes
The combination of geometric and representational shapes create visually compelling designs. The imagery found on the button blanket serves as an identifier of one’s status and position within the group.
Scale
Since Button Blankets are meant to drape upon one’s shoulders, like a cloak or a cape, the size of the blanket should be large enough to wrap loosely around the body. Combined with the large, graphic imagery and bold colors, the blanket strikes a bold, commanding presence.
www.denverartmuseum.org/en/edu/alh/button-blanket
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The Sheldon Jackson Museum collections include objects from each of the Native groups in Alaska: Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, Aleut, Alutiiq, Yup’ik, Inupiat and Athabascan.
The collections strongly reflect the collecting done by founder, Sheldon Jackson, from 1887 through about 1898 during his tenure as General Agent of Education for Alaska.
Other objects were subsequently added to the collection, but in 1984 when the museum was purchased by the State of Alaska, the decision was made to add only Alaska Native materials made prior to the early 1930s.
The Yup’ik and Inupiat objects are the most widely represented and have the broadest selection of materials but in no way provide a comprehensive picture of the cultures.
The collection of objects from Southeast Alaska is rich in objects made for sale around the late 1800s and into the early 1900s. Spruce root baskets, engraved silver objects, and bead work are important representatives of traditional skills and materials being used to make items for sale.
However, there is only a smattering of stone tools, fishing and hunting equipment and clothing in the collection. Many everyday utilitarian objects are missing.
Sheldon Jackson only traveled deep into the interior once in his career in Alaska. He or his representative collected only a dozen Athabascan objects during that time. Athabascan objects have been added but well over half of the 106 Athabascan objects came to the museum after 1960.
Aleut and Alutiiq materials are even more rare. By the time Jackson and his teachers began collecting in the Aleutian Islands and Prince William Sound, those cultures had been impacted by Western cultures for nearly 150 years.
Museums in St. Petersburg, Russia and Finland are rich in material culture from those areas. Jackson was able to purchase made-for-sale grass baskets, gut bags and model baidarkas, but little else in the way of materials representing the people of the Aleutians.
To better represent the cultures of Alaska, the Museum is seeking items relating to certain areas and subjects. The following is a partial list:
Tlingit spoon bag, spoon mold, digging stick, bentwood box with woven cover and other utilitarian objects.
Aleut/Alutiiq clothing, kayak bailer, wood carvings and utilitarian objects.
Athabascan masks and utilitarian objects.
Any objects collected by Sheldon Jackson.
