Folk Arts - Master Artist - Israel Shotridge

Israel Shotridge. Photo by Fritz Dent.

Israel Shotridge was born and raised in southeast Alaska, and has received numerous honors for his carving. Among his commissions have been totem poles, relief panels, masks, canoes, bentwood boxes, and artifact replicas. He studied at the Totem Heritage Center, in Ketchikan, Alaska, from 1975 to 1990, and apprenticed under Tlingit master carver Nathan Jackson from 1982 to 1985. His apprentices would like to carry on this tradition of learning from a master in part because Shotridge himself learned from a master. Their goal is to be able to preserve the tradition, to teach it to others, and to start a business marketing their own artwork as self-sufficient Tlingit artists.

Totem poles are an easily recognized part of Tlingit culture, but outside the community their significance is not as clear or well known. Totems, poles carved from yellow or red cedar, feature brightly colored animals, people, or mythological creatures. Traditional Tlingit totem pole carving is important to the culture because the poles were used to record legends, histories, and stories, and to honor people or events. Many Tlingit stories are only depicted on totem poles. The discipline nearly died out when potlatches, the ceremonies at which poles are raised, were forbidden by law.

It is important to Master Artist Israel Shotridge to teach his art form to other Tlingit carvers, because that is the way traditions are preserved in his culture: one person teaches another, especially within a family. To have lived and breathed his culture is what Shotridge believes will have the most impact on those he teaches.

As a recipient of a 1998 Apprenticeship grant, Shotridge taught apprentices Fred and Frank Fulmer to prepare and carve totem poles. Shotridge focused his teachings to selecting and preparing a log for carving, roughing out the main figures of the totem pole, detailed carving, and finishing steps such as painting and preserving. The Fulmer brothers have been studying for many years, learning from Tlingit elders and accomplished Haida carver Ralph Bennett. Both are devoted to learning their traditional culture and arts.

For his work in preserving the traditional art of Tlingit Totem Carving, Shortridge received a 2009 Folk Arts Fellowship award.