Teri Rofkar

Teri Rofkar, or Chas' Koowu Tla'a (1956–2016), was a Tlingit weaver and educator from Sitka, Alaska.

She specialized in Ravenstail (Raven's Tail) designs and spruce root baskets.

Rofkar was born on September 27, 1956 in San Rafael, California and grew up in Pelican and Anchorage, Alaska.

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

She began her professional career as a weaver in 1986.

She 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 specialized in twinning, a method of weaving, and a 6,000 year old practice.

This method employed freehand looming, a long, continuous process that involves creating baskets and ceremonial robes from the roots of spruce trees.

Aside from her artwork, Rofkar was a community educator and researcher through her work as an artist and weaver.

Throughout her life she cultivated awareness surrounding traditional Native American crafts by expanding the discourse surrounding them to include new stories and perspectives.

Through this, Rokfar connected the histories of native people to the broader global community.

Rofkar's works can be seen on display at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. and the Museum of the North in Fairbanks, Alaska.

She died on December 2, 2016, at age 60.

Rofkar learned weaving from her grandmother Eliza Monk, as well as Delores Churchill (Haida), Ernestine Hanlon-Abel (Tlingit) and Cheryl Samuel.