By Matt Hawthorne

Danita Aguilar is carefully sewing ornately beaded blue felt fabric together with a piece of spotted seal skin. Using a special three-corner needle, necessary to penetrate the tough skin, she pushes through the commercially tanned hide, which is smooth on the inside with silver with black hair on the exterior.

Aguilar is making moccasins, and although this is her first pair, she says the work has been going smoothly.

"It’s been going pretty good. The beading takes a lot of time, but I really like doing the bead work."

The beads, sewn onto the felt, form a three-dimensional, multi-colored flower. After sewing together the felt and seal, Aguilar will line the moccasins’ opening with snowshoe hare fur.

Aguilar is one of nearly 30 participants in classes offered in Klukwan as part of a cultural tourism training program.

The Chilkat Hosts and Native Artists program, funded by a $356,000 social economic development grant received last fall, is training residents to work as artists or "cultural hosts" as the village opens its doors to tourism.

Working with the University of Alaska Southeast, the trainee program requires five credit hours in three core requirements: design, Northwest Coast Native art history and culture, and portfolio review. Students can then take 15 credit hours in a focus area: woodcarving, basket weaving or Raven’s tail weaving.

Participants meet twice a week for coursework, which corresponds with the UAS spring semester. Elective classes started in November and will run through May.

Aguilar said the accessibility of the program is convenient. "It’s kind of nice. We don’t have to leave the village and we get language and history credit."

The classes are open to all tribal members, whether or not they’re part of the cultural tourism program.

Gene Strong, who is enrolled in the wood-carving class, said the core requirements have been helpful.

"The history class helped big time. It gave a broader overview and better understanding of the images you’re looking at. The shaman, headdress, war—all have different images."

Carving a spruce feast tray, decorated with raven and eagle carvings, Strong said he has been learning from the wood, too. "It’s patience and learning the grain of the wood, the feel of the wood, which way to go."

Artists from the valley and outside have been brought in to teach the workshops. Haines resident Jim Heaton taught the woodcarving course, while Jennie Wheeler, of Yakutat, is teaching the moccasin class.

Ravenstail expert Cheryl Samuel, of Alberta, visited Klukwan in January to teach a class in the traditional weaving form.

Wheeler, who learned the art of skin sewing from her mom as a child, returned to her ancestors’ village for the class.

"This has been pretty exciting for me, because this is where my mom learned to make moccasins from her grandmother."

Wheeler, who wasn’t raised in the village, has completed the cycle, returning the knowledge to Klukwan.

The participants are doing well, according to Wheeler. "I’m surprised. Some have never sewn or beaded before. They’re doing awesome."

Carrie Valentine, who is nearly finished with her moccasins, said she hopes to continue the work, "if I can remember how to do it. I’ve been calling on Jennie for help quite a bit."

The development and continuation of these traditional skills and cultural practices is a goal of the program.

"We are trying to build on our strengths here and one of our strengths is our culture," said village resident Lani Hotch.

This summer will begin the commercial venture of the program, with pilot tours visiting a portion of the village. Hotch said the cultural hosts will provide the tours while continuing their training through evaluations.

The village is pursuing plans to develop a cultural center to house displays about local history and provide space for village artists to work and sell their creations. A traditional long house already has been built on the shore of the Chilkat River, near the site of the proposed cultural center.

Hotch said the village is trying to strike a balance between economic development and traditional culture and values.

"The biggest challenge is going to be preserving the integrity of our culture and protecting our natural resources to continue our subsistence lifestyle," said Hotch, who estimated that no more than a couple tours would be held in a day.

In the future, tourists visiting Klukwan will learn about the Tlingit culture and be able to purchase traditional Tlingit art made by the artist-trainees enrolled in the program, possibly moccasins made by Aguilar.