Donna Beaver, Alaska Native (Tlingit/Tsimshian) of the Kaagwaantaan clan, also known as the Wolf House, is a poet and multi-disciplinary artist.
ABOUT
Donna Beaver is an Alaska Native (Tlingit / Tsimshian) poet and multidisciplinary artist, originally from Juneau, Alaska now living in North Carolina. In addition to writing, she is a photographer, filmmaker, graphic/web designer and multimedia artist. Donna also works in traditional materials as a mixed-media collage artist, illustrator, and jewelry designer.
As a former education outreach coordinator specializing in informal and Native science education, she continues to do Indigenous Knowledge talks and storytelling.
MEDIA
Get to know me through the poetry podcast, Haiku Chronicles, that I produce and and co-host with poet, Alan Pizzarelli. Haiku Chronicles is a free non-profit free educational podcast devoted to the art of haiku and related poetic forms.
Honored to be featured in an artist profile in the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian magazine's Winter 2023 issue. https://www.americanindianmagazine.org/Poet-Donna-Beaver
Clarissa Rizal was a NEA National Heritage Fellow recipient for her Chilkat weaving. I took part in her performance group for the NEA concert: https://youtu.be/kDVckQQ-LtM?t=6188 (starts at 1:43:09). The video includes a lovely interview with Clarissa on Chilkat weaving, followed by our dance group performance. Our troupe included Darlene See, Donna Beaver (that’s me wearing the fringed Chilkat robe), Clarissa Rizal, and Irene Lampe. Clarissa passed away a few months after the event. Photo by Tom Pich.
News Article in the Juneau Empire on , Remembering the sparks of the ‘Alaska Native Literary Renaissance’ (Juneau Empire, 2018) on a poetry event I organized to be a part of the Celebration, Sealaska Heritage’s biennial festival of Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian cultures that has been held in Juneau, Alaska, every even year since 1982.
Article in the Daily Sitka Sentinel of me (left) and Clarissa Rizal (right) highlighting our presentation on “Regalia Research.” Part of the Ceremonial Regalia panel with panelists, Megan Smetzer, Evelyn Vanderhoop, Emily Moore at the Sharing Our Knowledge Clan Conference in Sitka, AK (2007).
I also did a presentation “A Geologist’s Vision for a Bureau of Ethnology” on John Wesley-Powell. I was panel lead for Ethnohistory - Part 2. Panelists included: Ben Paul, Judith Berman, Diane Purvis, and Gil Truitt.
