her Tlingit mother and great-grand- mother, who also made dolls and moc- casins. Her metalwork is inspired by the metal artworks of her grandfather. Bea- ver is passing down the jewelry-making tradition to her grandchildren. More recently, she’s been drawing inspira- tion from her Tlingit and Tsimshian grandfather Amos Wallace, a master totem carver, some of whose works and those of his brother, carver Lincoln Wal- lace, are in the collection of the National Museum of the American Indian. The COVID-19 pandemic put a pause on
many of Beaver’s activities, but now she is eager to get back to her creative pursuits. These past two years have been the longest
she’s been away from Alaska in decades, but she is looking forward to returning to her ancestral lands for the Sealaska Heri- tage Institute’s Celebration 2024. And she wants to restart her haiku podcast. Beaver also wants to create more
portrait photography. However, this time instead of her children, her sub- jects will be her grandsons. Beaver said one of the other projects she wishes to complete is a children’s book, in part because it will allow her to stretch her illustration skills. The story is about, she said, the “gifts of the animals to us as people,” and, not unlike her poetry, it brings together her love of the natu- ral world and the connection she feels
to her Tlingit ancestry. Beaver said there’s a reason why she’s
focusing on children. “They’re the ones who will be inspired by our culture and see how beautiful our culture is,” Bea- ver said. “They’re the ones who carry on these traditions to be proud of,” she said, and as future stewards, they can develop
“a deep respect for the animals around us and care for this planet.”
margarita martín-hidalgo Birnbaum is a freelance writer and Spanish-speaking inter- preter based in Dallas, Texas. x’unei lance twitchell (Tlingit/Haida/Yup’ik), professor of Alaska Native Languages, University of Alaska Southeast, provided the poem’s translation.
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION WINTER 2022 15
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