"It's a Natural Blend of Inspiration "
Clarissa Hudson's wearable art combines a love of fabric, costume and sewing
by Gussie Fauntleroy
The New Mexican, Santa Fe, New Mexico
August 1994
Contact Clarissa for permission to use images or text for educational purposes only

Star Wars meets Russia, the Far East and American Indians -- in hand woven herringbone tweed silk.

It may seem like an incongruous combination, but in the hands of clothing designer Clarissa Hudson, it works.

With black and copper beads, rhinestones or Oriental ikat fabric and velvet, Hudson's clothing creations sometimes meld a futuristic feeling with traditional styles that originate across the Bering Strait from her home in Alaska.

In other cases, age-old symbols and colors from Hudson's Tlingit Indian heritage become part of original designs she creates for Northwest Coast ceremonial robes and headdresses.

It's a natural blend of inspirations for someone whose own ancestry includes a grandfather who was Norwegian, Finnish and German jew, another who was Filipino and Tibetan, and other relatives with Malaysian, Russian and Japanese blood -- besides the Tlingit side of her family.

"How I missed the Blacks, Lebanese and Irish, I don't know." Hudson joked in a phone conversation from her Juneau, Alaska home.

While her childhood was a mixture of many influences, including modern American as a young teen Hudson was introduced to the songs and dances of the Tlingit culture. She studied native customs with a Tlingit elder and at 16 was chosen to serve as drummer and song leader for a group of yong people who visited neighboring southeast Alaska village, sharing their traditions with people who had moved away from the old ways.

The experience made a strong impression on her and inspired her to further study of native art, which she eventually combined with a love of fabric, costume and sewing.

Hudson is bringing samples of her wearable art to Santa Fe as one of 12 new artists this year at Indian Market. She can be found at booth number 1443.

Among her most striking works are large navy blue and red ceremonial robes in Northwest Coast designs with handmade mother-of-pearl buttons sewn into the design.

In earlier times, ceremonial robes were made from dark blue wool blankets brought to the Alaska coast by Navy ships and traded for sea otter furs, Hudson said. her own robes are based on traditional native designs, but the designs are altered to be original.

"When I make robes they're based on dreams, visions or something I've seen that inspires me," she said.

For example, the ceremonial robe she calles "Emergence" depicts a circle of faces around a figure in the transition of birth or death.

In a dream, Hudson was told the robe would travel around the country as a healing robe, which it has done, she said.

Listening to National Public Radio one day, Hudson's brother heard a man in Oklahoma talking about being helped by the robe as a part of his healing from alcoholism.

As a young woman, Hudson taught herself to sew on a sewing machine she received as a high school graduation present.

She later used her skills as a costume designer for a local theatre, operated her own costume shop and sewed clothes and costumes for her children.

In the late 1980s, she honed her technical and artistic skills as a student at the Institute of American Indian Art in Santa Fe.

Hudson spends part of each year in Alaska and part of the year in Pagosa Springs, Colorado, which she uses as a base for exposure to native cultures of the Southwest.

"I sing and dance over my work," she said. "It's like my church, my prayers."

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