Anna Brown Ehlers

Anna Brown Ehlers (born c. 1955) is a Chilkat weaver from Juneau, Alaska. A native Tlingit, she has taught the unique Northwest coast art form of Chilkat weaving to prevent the craft from dying out. She has been widely recognized for her work, and was awarded a National Heritage Fellowship by the National Endowment for the Arts in 2017.

Biography Anna Brown Ehlers was born in Juneau, Alaska a member of the Tlingit tribe. As a child she grew up watching her grandmothers Mary Betts and Marie Peters practice beading and sewing of traditional hides. At age four, she saw her uncle, a veteran of WWII wearing a Chilkat blanket in a parade, and knew she wanted to dedicate her life to crafting the unique blankets.

Chilkat weaving

Ehlers has specialized in the unique craft of Chilkat weaving for over 35 years. They are made with mountain goat hides, yellow cedar bark and traditionally dyed wools.

She developed her skills by apprenticing under master weaver Jennie Thlunaut. Thulunaut was one of the last of the Tlingit to practice the art, which she shared with Ehlers to prevent it from being lost. In 1984, she left her job to pursue weaving full time.

Ehlers is known for using unique materials in her Chilkat blankets, including gold thread. She describes the meaning of the blankets she creates, “Our blankets say who we are. The designs include our tribal crests and our relation to the land. When you wear it, it connotes your ancestry and people know who you are. It’s not about ownership, it’s about relationship.”

Honors In 2001 she received a Community Spirit Award from the First People's Fund. In 2006, she was named a United States Artists Fellow. It would be the first year that the United States Artists organization would recognize an Alaska-native artist.

In 2009 she received a Fellowship from the Rasmuson Foundation.

In 2017 she was recognized by the National Endowment for the Arts and awarded a National Heritage Fellowship for her expertise in Chilkat weaving. In honor of the award, she weaved the largest Chilkat blanket in history, depicting an orca whale motif spanning eight feet wide and seven feet tall.

Exhibitions

2020 - Echoes and Reverberations, at The Fabric Workshop and Museum