Selina Peratrovich

Selina Victoria Harris Adams Peratrovich (1889/1890 – 1984, was a Haida weaver and teacher. Born in Old Masset, in British Columbia, she was raised in Howkan, Alaska, before being returned to Canada as a teenager to marry Alfred Adams. During her marriage, she learnt how to weave from her mother in law, Elizabeth Adams; after her second marriage she settled in Ketchikan, Alaska. She became known as a weaver and teacher and is credited with preserving the art of Haida basket weaving.

Peratrovich died in 1984 at the age of 95. Her students include weavers such as Delores Churchill, Isabel Rorick, Florence Davidson, Vicki Lee Soboleff, Clarissa Rizal, April Churchill, Primrose Adams, and Evelyn Vanderhoop, and her work is in the collections of several museums in the United States and Canada.

Life Selina Peratrovich was born Selina Victoria Harris in 1889 or 1890 to a Eagle Clan in Old Masset, on the Queen Charlotte Islands (now Haida Gwaii). Peratrovich was raised by her grandmother, who avoided teaching her how to weave to prevent her from marrying at a young age. She died on December 23, 1984, At least five of her children had predeceased her. in her later years, she and her daughter, fellow weaver Delores Churchill, would hike through the Tongass National Forest for supplies, which Peratrovich would select. She did teach weaving classes at her daughter, Delores Churchill's school; the young Churchill lost interest in weaving, however, after her mother made her burn substandard baskets and gave the $5 she won in a weaving competition to another child. Her weaving also won awards at the Anchorage Historical and Fine Arts Museum (1973), and the Heard Museum (1974). In 2015, work she had produced that had been painted by Tlingit aritst Nathan Jackson was given to the Tongass Historical Museum in Ketchikan.

Legacy Peratrovich is credited with maintaining the art of Haida basket weaving Clarissa Rizal, April Churchill (granddaughter), Evelyn Vanderhoop (granddaughter) and her great grand daughter, Lisa Hageman Yahgulanaas, is a weaver as well.

After her death, the 1985 University of Alaska Museum in Fairbanks and Institute of Alaska Native Arts-organized travelling exhibition "Interwoven Expressions" was dedicated to her and displayed two of her hats.