Kanik Corinne James on being uplifted by Indigenous women in the art world

This is Tongass Voices, a series from KTOO sharing weekly perspectives from the homelands of the Áak’w Kwáan and beyond.

Kanik Corinne James is a Juneau-based formline artist who first started selling her designs under the brand Tlingit Aesthetics when she was 18. She learns from traditional formline styles, but adds her own creative twists to them.

Kanik recently designed a piece called “Auntea” and told KTOO what inspired the design.

Listen:

This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.

Kanik Corinne James:

It’s kind of like a stylized face in the shape of a teapot. So like, the mouth would be the spout. And then on the back of the head would be a claw, almost, or a foot, depending on how you look at it — and that’d be the handle of the teapot.

Something about me is I love tea, in general. And I just became an auntie, so it felt very fitting. And I have so many aunties in my life that just hold me up and support me. And so I felt like it’d be a fun design to dedicate to all my aunties out there. 

Kanik áyá ax̱ saayí. G̱aanax̱.ádi ḵa Gitlaan Ganhada áyá x̱at. Kichx̱áanx’ Metlakatla Ḵwaande. 

My Lingít name is Kanik, and my English name is Corinne. And I’m G̱aanax̱.ádi and Gitlaan Ganhada from Ketchikan and Metlakatla. But I grew up here in Juneau. 

It’s been interesting. I was definitely worried at first I wouldn’t be taken seriously, because sometimes it’s looked down upon wanting to live off of your art, or seen as impossible. But I feel like the community here is so amazing. And everyone’s so accepting, and they’re so encouraging.

But starting a business has been — that has been interesting. There’s lots of growing pains. I think I officially started my business when I was 18, so shortly after I graduated high school. 

I grew up here in Juneau, my whole life. So I’ve always been surrounded by my Lingít culture and heritage. But growing up as a Native in the public school system was kind of hard, to be proud of who I was. So it took me a while to actually get into art. But when the pandemic started, and I felt very disconnected from the world, because everything was online, I couldn’t talk to anyone in person. That’s when I really started connecting to my culture again. And art was what brought me back. 

So for my inspirations, I become such a fangirl when it comes to our women Indigenous artists. And Alison Bremner would be one of the first people I mention. Alison Bremner was the first artist who opened my eyes to the possibilities of what I could do when I grow up. Like when I grow up, I want to be like, Alison, she’s really cool. And growing up, I didn’t really hear about women Indigenous artists, so it never really occurred to me that I could be an artist until I met Alison during middle school Sealaska camp. And ever since then, I’ve just been like a fan girl. 

I feel like lately Juneau has been impressing me with Áak’w Rock and some more traditional classes like weaving and carving. And even like some harvesting classes, which has been pretty cool to see. And Sealaska has also been doing a really good job at offering these classes to the community. And I think UAS is getting there as well. But I feel like, since the Indigenous community is — we’re still learning about our culture as well. And so this is, this is all this has been a learning experience for the community, I think. But it’s been really cool to witness like, I feel so grateful to exist at the same time as all these artists and all these really cool events that are starting.