Inside the Petersburg Indian Association’s warehouse, it smelled strongly of paint.
A white, Tlingit-style fiberglass canoe rested on a boat trailer, barely fitting the room’s length. Just short of 40 feet, it will take about a dozen pullers to paddle the canoe at sea.
Xájoosa John Garcia III, a tribal artist based in Juneau, sat near its broad bow, holding a paintbrush. He paused before carefully applying the red-colored bottom paint to a formline design he had outlined along the front of the canoe.
Garcia said he was spending about 12 hours a day on the project.
“It’s love, I tell you. I put love into everything I do,” Garcia said. “And I have to be in a really, really good place myself to transfer that into what I’m doing.”
There are a few things that make this canoe special. It’s the first one Petersburg’s local tribe has owned, and the first canoe the community has had in a century or so. According to the local tribe, it very well could be longer.
Garcia agreed to paint the canoe — with only a few weeks to prepare a design and come to Petersburg — after the original artist, Doug Chilton, wasn’t able to anymore. Garcia said he has two decades of experience doing formline art.
“These few little lines are just gonna pop, and it’s just gonna bring it to life,” he said. “It’s not artwork for us, it’s just culture. And we have to pass that on.”
Traditional canoes, or yaakw in Lingít, typically represent a single clan. But this design is intentionally general so it doesn’t leave anyone out. Petersburg’s tribal members chose the concept, and Garcia designed what it looks like.
The formline design is mirrored on both sides of the killer whale canoe, or kéet yaakw. Three big Chilkat faces line the center and, on each end, there’s a human figure with a large killer whale head and elongated dorsal fin.
“There’s some very fine lines that need to be done on the teeth, the eyes. I always do those last. That’s kind of a bringing to life — that’s being able to breathe and eat, and then the eyes come in and you’re able to see,” Garcia explained. “And so, it’s not just important. It’s really sacred.”
Garcia explained that the design shows a killer whale transformation, reminiscent of Tlingit creation stories where people evolved from the creatures that lived there.
“We all feel that we were derived from the animals that lived in our area, and that’s how they became our clan crest. And so with these at either end, and then with the Chilkat faces in the middle, it’s really a play on people — the people that live in the area, the people that migrated to the area,” Garcia said. “This represents us getting on the water, just as the old ones did. And so it’s really an incredible thing for our people to get back to.”
Garcia’s young daughter joined him in Petersburg to hold his hand sometimes while he painted the canoe. He said it’s not just art, it’s “our way of life” — and a way to pass culture on to the next generation.
“Without our children and without them getting to learn and experience everything that goes on in our culture, we die. So everything I do is for our kids,” he said.
A milestone canoe launch from Séet Ká Kwáan
Bringing out the new canoe is “momentous” for Petersburg’s tribal community, Garcia says, and it’s all part of a growing cultural revival in the region.
“Back several generations, you know, all of our culture was basically beat out of us. We couldn’t have a Koo.éex. We didn’t have potlatches. We could not have ceremonies,” Garcia said. “So the Tlingit, the Haida, the Tsimshian people, they really decided that, hey, we’re going to take back our culture, and we’re going to celebrate it. We’re going to have Celebration.”
Celebration is a big festival that happens in Juneau every two years. Thousands of people gather to honor and uplift Indigenous culture — some travel for the occasion by canoe.
ShaaL’aanee Brandon Ware is Vice President of the Petersburg Indian Association’s Tribal Council. He said a group of several canoes from around the region will meet in Petersburg this year to paddle together to Juneau, camping and visiting villages along the way — a tradition known as Journey.
“It’s a really significant deal,” Ware said. “It’s the same waters that our people have paddled in since time immemorial.”
While Petersburg, or Séet Ká Kwáan, has been a stop along the way in years past, Ware said launching the canoe Journey from Petersburg this year is another milestone for the community.
“We’ve hosted plenty of times, but there’s never been a canoe launch out of Petersburg for this,” Ware said. “This is the first time, I would say, since Petersburg was incorporated as a town. That’s probably a safe bet to say.”
Ware said setting out from Séet Ká Kwáan was something he advocated for.
“The group was incredible, and said we would love to do that. Because they also recognize that Petersburg is Lingít Aaní, that it’s Tlingit land,” Ware said. “This is something that connects us to our way of life, and to our ancestors and the people that have come before us in this area.”
Ware says it takes a lot of time, money and planning to prepare for Journey — and to host the 80 to 100 or so people who will launch canoes out of Petersburg together. The local tribe is accepting donations as well as applications for anyone interested in joining as pullers, who will paddle the killer whale canoe to Juneau.
“It’s a big deal and we need more pullers,” he said. “I would love to fill a canoe with people from our community. It’d be incredible.”
Canoes will launch at the end of May.
But first, after getting a layer of clear coat, the new canoe will be unveiled, named and blessed. Ware said Garcia did incredibly well representing the community’s vision.
“We know it’s gonna keep us safe. We know that it’s going to continue moving, and we know that this canoe is going to take on the characteristics that’s represented on it,” Ware said, noting killer whales are viewed as resilient, protectors of the seas. “It’s beautiful, and I’m excited to unveil it.”
Petersburg Indian Association is unveiling and blessing the kéet yaakw at Sandy Beach this Sunday, April 19, at 3:00 p.m. Paddle-making classes are also happening in Petersburg this week in preparation for Journey.
Celebration starts June 3.
Petersburg Indian Association is taking donations and puller applications for Journey. Information about the local classes and tribal events can be found on PIA’s website, piatribal.org.
