Anne Gould-Hauberg's Chilkat Robe

Handspun wool and cedar bark, hand-dyed wool yarns
5 ft x 6 ft May 2004
Contact Clarissa for permission to use image for educational purposes only

The Pilchuck School of Glass had its 30th Anniversary celebration in August 2001. To commemorate this event, Preston Singletary and David Svenson designed and created a 20-foot totem pole with carvers from Alaska Indian Arts in Haines, Alaska. The Pilchuck Totem Pole in wood and glass honors the school’s three founders (from top to bottom): Anne Gould-Hauberg, Dale Chihuly, and John H. Hauberg.

I was one of the students in the glass casting class taught by Singletary and Svenson; we created the glass castings inserted into the totem pole. The students also assisted in painting the totem pole. During the last week of completion, John Hagen, one of the carvers from Haines, asked me if I would design and paint the Chilkat robe for ‘Anne” at the top of the totem pole. I designed and painted it during that week before the celebration.

During the totem pole raising ceremony, Anne Gould-Hauberg just happened to mention to one of the school’s alumni artist that she admired the Chilkat robe at the top of the pole and wished she could own one. The artist remarked: “Well… if you really want one, the woman who designed and painted the robe is standing over there… and she is a weaver of those robes.”

Anne commissioned the robe. She said she would like a design that combined the blanket I created for the totem pole robe with a robe she once owned but is now the permanent collection of the Seattle Art Museum. She and I visited the museum so she could show me exactly which robe it was. (A photograph of the robe is in a Native art book titled: “The Spirit Within: Northwest Coast Art from the John H. Hauberg Collection," page 61.)

I gave my self a deadline: the Pilchuck School of Glass Annual Auction held October 2002. I knew Anne would be attending and that she would be honored at the banquet. She was in her mid-80s, so who could say how long she would be able to enjoy the robe. I told myself I would complete the robe in time for Anne to wear it at the auction. Because of other commitments, I could not begin weaving the robe until February 2002 and I was not sure that I would be able to weave a full-size complex-design robe in less than a year. As it turned out, it took me 7 months to weave the robe; full-time at least 8 hours a day, even on weekends. Towards the last two weeks, I wove about 18 hours per day. To avoid loss, damage or theft, I always hand-carry a Chilkat robe and deliver it "in person." I presented the robe to Anne the day before the auction.

I dyed yellow, turquoise and green weft, using commercial dyes. In this case, Anne had chosen the green instead of the more common turquoise. The green was the color used by Chilkat weavers before the arrival of the Navy ships and their blue blankets, which could be rendered to help create turquoise.