Crystal: Using Art to Give Voice to Indigenous People
Groundbreaking artist Crystal (Tlingit and Athabascan descendancy) is decolonizing the airways with art. As Alaska Airlines’ planes queue up on the runways, her new designs created in Northwest Coastal formline art and called Xáat Kwáani (Salmon People) resemble the sacred salmon returning to swim upstream, giving a voice to the Indigenous people for whom the fish serve as a primary and critical food source.
Crystal is the first artist Alaska Airlines has worked with directly and it is the first time any domestic airline has named an aircraft in an Alaska Native language.
Crystal, an American Indian College Fund Embrey Women’s Leadership Fellow, College Fund scholar, and graduate of the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA), is forging a path for herself and other Indigenous artists in corporate partnerships. An award-winning multidisciplinary artist from Juneau, Alaska, her prints, paintings, and public art have been exhibited in galleries, museums, and public spaces the world over. She also co-owns the design shop, Trickster Company, with her brother, Rico.
Having Indigenous work seen and utilized by corporations helps create public awareness and shows how Native people live their traditional ways in modern lives, Crystal says. Her work also illustrates to corporations that if they give Native individuals an opportunity, they can help create something awesome together.
Other airlines are sitting up and taking notice. Southwest Airlines is now working with a Native Hawaiian artist on a design for their planes. Crystal when one entity partners with Native professionals and shows success, other corporate opportunities will follow.
When working with a corporate partner, Crystal ensures a good alliance by setting out the terms of the relationship. This includes not using words that stereotype Indigenous people, being shown all drafts, having the final say on each design, and introducing graphic designers to artforms specific to different Indigenous cultures. She says her role as artist often includes educating corporate partners as she provides them with custom designs and pieces—thereby creating valuable allies who hold large platforms for ensuring visibility of Native people in the process.
The Birth of An Artist
Growing up in Fairbanks near her mother’s family, Crystal’s family visited her father’s family every summer in Juneau. As a result, she was steeped in two different traditions. “It’s not just [the difference between] growing up between the modern world and Native but having multiple upbringings.”
Crystal learned beading from her mother and how to make regalia from her grandmother, skills that were considered part of everyday life rather than art. In addition, a tribal college education was also instrumental to Crystal’s success. At IAIA she received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in studio arts and an associate degree in fine arts in moving images.
She says IAIA’s smaller student population and plethora of Indigenous professors and literature helped her to blossom after a rocky first year. She was following in the footsteps of a clan leader and aunt by attending IAIA, but it was a long way from home, and she initially felt isolated. A call from her brother changed her perspective. She began introducing herself to other students and volunteering for various activities. She came to appreciate the diversity of the student body, 25% of which come from all over the world, and the amazing art they were constantly creating. As Crystal herself noted, she is one of many successful graduates from IAIA’s creative arts program.
The Power of Storytelling Through Art
There’s never been a better time to share how to be a good relative to others and a steward of the land through art. The knowledge Crystal gained from her cultures is reflected in her work, and her hope is to teach all people a better way to coexist with our world, including being respectful when harvesting or interacting with any aspect of the environment.
Salmon have allowed Crystal’s people to subsist off the land for generations, as depicted in her Alaska Airlines design. Unfortunately, she says for the past three years, her mother’s family hasn’t been able to visit their camp up north to catch them because the number of fish has been too low. Yet, tourists are still allowed to catch salmon and take only fillets, she says, wasting much of each animal. She says if this trend continues, the next generation will never enjoy the special relationship her people have, and their ancestors had, through catching and smoking salmon.
Crystal believes she is fortunate to have been born at a time in which she could learn traditional ways (that younger generations are at risk of not knowing)—while also enjoying the opportunity to travel and tell the stories of her people through art around the globe—something her mother and grandmother inspired her to do with their own travels for work and advocacy. Understanding that duality drives her to not only share important lessons with her art, but to use her role as an artist as an advocate, teacher, and supporter of organizations like the Yukon River Drainage Fisheries Association that works to conserve salmon runs and gives a voice to the Indigenous people for whom the fish serve as a primary source of food.
What is next for Crystal? She signed a three-year contract to create a public art installation for the expanded C concourse at the Port of Seattle Airport. The contract also supports Crystal’s training with the glasswork community in Seattle, exemplifying how organizations can invest in both the artwork and the Indigenous artist in a healthy partnership. Crystal plans to continue to expand her skills in this and every endeavor to follow.