Cheryl Samuel

Through research, enthusiasm, and a lot of patience, Cheryl Samuel triggered the revival of the ancient ceremonial art of Ravenstail weaving in Alaska, British Columbia, and Haida Gwaii. She is author of The Chilkat Dancing Blanket and The Raven’s Tail, the two definitive books on Northwest Coast weaving.

Since 1984 she has taught at the University of Alaska, where she helped to establish a certificate program in indigenous weaving. As an artist/weaver she has represented Canada in the Commonwealth Games Arts Festivals in both Edinburgh and Auckland. In recent years she has turned her expertise in teaching and weaving to her other passions: celtic drawing and wood-turned sculptures. Her current works are mixed media, combining weaving with woodturning, glass, metal, and stone. Everyone Waits for the Salmon is a heart-wrenching cry to stop the inevitable destruction that a pipeline would bring to our coast.

 

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Raincoast’s in-house scientists, collaborating graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and professors make us unique among conservation groups. We work with First Nations, academic institutions, government, and other NGOs to build support and inform decisions that protect aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, and the wildlife that depend on them. We conduct ethically applied, process-oriented, and hypothesis-driven research that has immediate and relevant utility for conservation deliberations and the collective body of scientific knowledge.

We investigate to understand coastal species and processes. We inform by bringing science to decision-makers and communities. We inspire action to protect wildlife and wildlife habitats.

Coastal wolf with a salmon in its month.
Photo by Dene Rossouw.