Tlingit weaver Lani Hotch of Klukwan and Tsimshian weaver Delores Churchill of Ketchikan are receiving national recognition as 2020 USA Fellows of United States Artists.
The two are among 50 artists recognized this year by US Artists, which was created to illuminate the value of artists to American society. Diane Kaplan, president and CEO of Rasmuson Foundation, a founding member of the organization, serves on its board.
Hotch began weaving at 17, inspired by her family’s weaving history and the desire to keep her Tlingit culture alive. A 2010 Rasmuson Foundation Individual Artist Award winner, she makes beaded jewelry and enjoys incorporating weaving patterns into her beadwork. She makes bags, leggings, headdresses, dance bibs, button blankets and other regalia. Hotch worked for years with students at Klukwan school, teachng the Tlingit language, cultural arts, Alaska Native history and subsistence skills.
Church learned traditional Tsimshian weaving from her mother, Selina Peratovich and master weavers Flora Matthew and Brenda White. She has received multiple awards for her work.
She is a 2006 Rasmuson Foundation Distinguished Artist and a 2018 individual Artist Award recipient. She has taught basketry and basket design at the University of Alaska Southeast, across the United States and in Europe.
