In a career spanning three decades, Teri Rofkar mastered the fiber arts of basketry and textile weaving. She is pictured here dancing in her daughter’s Ravenstail Lituya Bay robe. (From Rofkar’s Facebook page)
Tlingit weaver Teri Rofkar died today (12-02-16). The Sitka resident was internationally renowned for her baskets and textiles, made from cedar, spruce tree roots, and mountain goat wool collected along Sitka’s shores. She was 60 years old.
Rofkar taught and traveled throughout the state, winning numerous awards including the the NEA National Heritage Fellowship Award in 2009 and the Rasmuson Distinguished Artist Award in 2013. Ed Ronco, KCAW’s reporter at the time, visited Rofkar in her studio. In memory of Teri Rofkar, here is that story. Later in her career, Rofkar began incorporating DNA from goats on Baranof Island into her Ravenstail robes.
