Teri Rofkar, American Tlingit weaver, Died at 60

  Artists, Business

Teri Rofkar, or Chas’ Koowu Tla’a was born on September 27, 1956, in San Rafael, California, and died on December 2, 2016

She was an American Tlingit weaver and an educator from Sitka, Alaska.

Teri Rofkar specialized in Ravenstail designs and spruce root baskets.

She grew up in Yakutat and Anchorage, Alaska.

During 1976, Teri moved to Sitka, Alaska, the town her grandmother was born in, raising three children with her husband Denny Rofkar.

She learned how to weave from her grandmother Eliza Monk, as well as Delores Churchill (Haida), Ernestine Hanlon-Abel (Tlingit) and Cheryl Samuel.

Teri started her professional career as a weaver in 1986.

Rofkar wove the first Tlingit robe made completely from mountain goat wool in more than two hundred years, but also worked with contemporary materials and technology.

Rofkar was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts “Living Treasures” fellowship in 2009.

Teri Rofkar passed away at 60 years old.