Clarissa Rizal


Clarissa Rizal was a Tlingit artist of Filipino descent. She was best known as a Chilkat and Ravenstail weaver, but she also worked in painting, printmaking, carving, and sculpting.

Personal life

Rizal was born on June 4, 1956, in Juneau, Alaska, with the last name of Lampe. Through her mother, she is of the T'akDeinTaan clan of Hoonah/Glacier Bay. She also produced artwork for a time using the married name of Hudson. Rizal raised a son and two daughters; both daughters are weavers. She died on December 7, 2016, in Pagosa Springs, CO.

Apprenceship and writing

When in her twenties, Rizal apprenticed under Jennie Thlunaut to learn Chilkat weaving. Thlunaut was in her 90s. In 2005, Rizal published a book titled Jennie Weaves an Apprentice: A Chilkat Weaver's Handbook. It won a 2007–08 Honoring Alaska's Indigenous Literature Award from the Alaska Native Knowledge Network at University of Alaska, Fairbanks.

Awards and honors

Rizal also received awards for her artwork. She won a 2013 Artist Fellowship from the Rasmuson Foundation. In 2015, Rizal received a Native Arts & Cultures Foundation National Artist Fellowship. She was a 2011 and 2016 First Peoples Fund Cultural Capital Fellow. Rizal received a 2016 National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. Her mentor Jennie Thlunaut received the same award in 1986.
One of the last robes on which Rizal worked was a collaborative effort, Weavers Across the Water. At least fifty weavers either submitted squares or helped Rizal in other ways. The squares were woven together into a single robe. It was first worn by master carver Wayne Price at the dedication of a new Huna tribal house in Glacier Bay. Rizal then took the robe to Washington, DC, for the NEA award event.