about

Lily Hope (b. 1980) was born and raised in Juneau, Alaska to full-time artists. She is Tlingit Indian, of the Raven moiety. Following her matrilineal line, she’s of her grandmother’s clan, the T’akdeintaan.

She  learned Ravenstail weaving from her late mother Clarissa Rizal, and Kay Field Parker, both of Juneau. She also apprenticed for over a decade in Chilkat weaving with Rizal who, until her untimely passing in December 2016, was one of the last living apprentices of the late Master Chilkat Weaver, Jennie Thlunaut. Lily feels the pressure to leave honorable weavers in her place. The majority of her work focuses on making sure new students are learning the technical and spiritual practices in these two premiere finger-twined textiles.

Lily’s contemporary works in wool textile and paper collage weave together Ravenstail and Chilkat design. She is one of few designers of Chilkat dancing blankets. She teaches both finger-twined styles extensively in person (and virtually since COVID-19), across the US. She teaches and demonstrates internationally and offers lectures on the spiritual commitments of being a weaver.

Committed to co-creating as her mother was, she’s constantly looking for ways to collaborate with other artists, often spearheading multi-community volunteer weaver projects, Weaving Our Pride (see full link above) youth mentorship projects, the community robe titled the Giving Strength Robe to be worn by survivors of sexual and domestic violence.

Lily lives in Juneau, Alaska, as the sole provider of her six children.

Artist Statement

Lily Hope’s work emerges from a foundation of traditional training in Northwest Coast textiles, elevating Chilkat design to explore current and historical cultural expression. 

Tlingit (and Haida and Tsimshian) peoples have recorded history with our finger-twined Chilkat dancing blankets for hundreds of years. Lily rigorously studies the adapted formline of Chilkat design, driven to transform traditional shapes into contemporary art.  Each work she creates expresses a continued recording of history, from family lineage, to Covid-19 to the BlackLivesMatter movement.   

Inspiration for her work is found in the technical mastery of historic Chilkat weavings, with a commitment to carry the spiritual teachings with integrity, while pushing the expectation of indigenous art.  The merging of ancestral knowledge and contemporary expression confirms Chilkat design as relevant record keeping.