Artist Residencies

Savannah LeCornu is a self-taught artist from Ketchikan, Alaska. She is Tsimshian, Haida, and Nimiipuu (Nez Perce). Savannah primarily draws and paints in digital and traditional formats, but she also beads. She works in formline and plateau art styles and strives to create modern, accessible art that celebrates Indigenous peoples.

Savannah received her bachelor’s degree in performing arts from Western Washington University, with concentrations in lighting design and playwriting. Savannah was the recipient of the Native American Fellowship from Ucross, where she completed a residency in the spring of 2022. She was also the recipient of the Harpo Foundation Fellowship for Native American Artists from the Vermont Studio Center, where she completed a residency in the fall of 2023.

Her first solo exhibit, Ah yes, that old Indian saying, was displayed at Seattle Repertory Theatre in Seattle, Washington, in 2023. She was a part of the group exhibit arnaq, hana’ask, sm’em at Columbia City Gallery in Seattle in 2023 and the group exhibit Celebrating Complexities at Ucross Art Gallery in Clearmont, Wyoming, and the Yellowstone Art Museum in Billings, Montana, in 2024. She was also a part of the group exhibit This is Native Art at the Colorado State Capitol, which then moved to the Golden History Museum in Golden, Colorado.

Lisa Fisher grew up in Juneau and belongs to the Dageinaa Hít House from Yakutat. Her Tlingit name is Gunashaa, and her parents are Vivian and Nick Kokotovich. She began weaving in 2019 and took several classes from Kay Parker. She quickly realized that she loved weaving and has been steadily weaving ever since.

In 2025, she started weaving an apron, her biggest project thus far. This project will be a Ravenstail-styled apron with traditional yellow, black, and white colors and the diamond design. This is mostly Ravenstail with some Chilkat elements.

Ursala Hudson (Kadusné) is an interdisciplinary artist of German, English, Filipino, and Tlingit descent. She is Raven moiety of the T’aḵdeintaan clan from the Head House. Through her primary medium of Chilkat and Ravenstail weaving, she engages with Indigenous feminisms and Native spirituality to address the colonial project, institutional reform, and cultural rematriation. She is the daughter of the late Clarissa Rizal and sister to Lily Hope, both notable Northwest Coast textile weavers and culture specialists. Ursala’s woven garments have walked the runways for international fashion shows and her art has been added to collections at the Burke Museum, the National Museum of the American Indian, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

She is currently weaving an eight-foot Chilkat totem pole with a unique pattern designed through collaboration with James Johnson (Tlingit). The weaving is done on a traditional frame, hung across the bar, as all Chilkat robes are twined. Once finished, it will wrap around a semi-circular column, referencing the totem pole form.

MacKenzie Gray, X’usyee Naa Kaneit, is Kaagwaantaan from the Kook Hít Tlein of Sitka. She focuses on Ravenstail and Chilkat weaving and participated in SHI’s Alaska Native artist residency program.

Rudy Isturis Jr. is a Tlingit artist from Juneau who works in silver, copper, ivory, and lapidary. His residency shared work inspired by Alaska’s land, histories, and people.

Ranelle Hinchman, Lux Shawaat, is Raven of the L’uknax̱.ádi clan. Her residency in the Delores Churchill Demonstrating Artist Studio centered on beading and teaching visitors and students.