Artist Statement

Donedin Jackson is the great great great granddaughter of the late Dr. Jake Jackson, known as the last inland Tłingit Medicine Man. She is a traditionally trained 4th generation Shaxʼsaani Kéekʼ Jennie Thlunaut Naax̲éin Chilkat & Yeił Koowú Ravenstail weaver and fine textile artist, mentee and apprentice of Wooshkindein Da.áat LilyHope, Weaver Artist. 

Named Sakoon by her great-grandmother Tzint (Carrie Jackson), the last medicine person of Déisłeen Teslin, Yukon. Donedin was born in the treaty 7 occupied lands temporarily known as Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada, and currently permanently resides in the occupied territories temporarily known as Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada. She is a Yeił Koowú Ravenstail & Naax̲éin Chilkat student, weaver, teacher, and a Tłingit language learner.

Granddaughter to Kéishi Wilma Magill, she is an inland Tłingit born on her father Nashúk Elmer Jacksons’ side, raised in southern Alberta with her mother, stepfather, older brother and younger half-sister. She  began weaving in her ancestral arts and learning her traditional language to decolonize her life in 2020. As a living success story of the Canadian Governments’ attempts to destroy the traditional peoples of this continent, she is also a testament to indigenous resilience and integrity. In her journey to decolonize herself and her life, she has had the great honour to work with uniquely gifted Traditional Knowledge Keepers.

Previously, pre-pandemic, Donedin was a Professional Executive working in local government, but was able to pivot to traditional cultural activities during Covid-19. Donedin began her weaving journey under the tutelage of Lily Hope, her mentor and instructor, when she began offering classes online.  Donedin immediately signed up for classes and felt herself being welcomed by a supportive and giving community that Lily had created. A dream was realised on January 19, 2023 when she joined over 20 trained weavers gathered in Juneau Alaska to support and facilitate the completion and dancing of the Naax̲éin Chilkat Child Size Robe’s. 

She is also the recipient of the “Canada Council for the Arts: Travel component of the Creating, Knowing and Sharing: the Arts and Cultures of First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples Program in 2022” which allowed her the ability to join the weaving cohort in Alaska for 2 whole weeks of weaving during the workshop in the Winter of 2022 to complete the Naax̲éin Chilkat Child Size Robe that she had been weaving all of 2021. 

The robe was on display at the Juneau Douglas City Museum from February 4, - February 25, 2023 & May 5, - November 30, 2023. The robe has since been witnessed in ceremony being danced during Celebration 2024 in Juneau, Alaska. 

She has been honoured to showcase a piece of her work titled - Naax̲éin Chilkat Protector Mask: For the Missing and Murdered Indigenous & Two Spirit People, on tour with the Bunnell Street Arts Center in an exhibit titled “Protection, Adaption, and Resistance” and is one of 18 masks by 14 different artists on tour from May 15, 2022 until January 31, 2025. 

She was then hosted by Taku River Tlingit First Nation during the 2023  Haa Ḵusteeyi Celebration in A Tłéin “Atlin” where she opened her most recent Yeił Koowú Ravenstail Child Size robe’s design and story up to the community’s feedback and was able to consult matriarchs, chiefs, elders, and knowledge holders with the support from Louise Gordon for cultural guidance.

The community collectively selected to traditionally document oratory history offered by John & Vernon Williams about land claims and hereditary land rights, held by the Wolf Yan Yeidi Clan with permission granted by Clan Matriarch Alison Carlick, with cultural guidance offered by Louise Gordon. The ensemble titled “K'iyán Shaa X'óow: Mount K'iyán Robe Collection 2024 - Yéil Koowú Átx'i Khaa Sháade Nákhx'i Yán Sákw Jeeyís: Ravenstail Regalia for Future Leaders - Yeił Koowú Ravenstail Child Size Ensemble” is now on display at the Juneau Douglas City Museum from May 3, 2024 to October 30, 2024. Once returned, it will be housed on loan in the permanent collection in A Tłéin “Atlin” to be used by its traditional peoples in ceremony. 

Donedin is now one of over 30 artists that have the technical and spiritual skill and knowledge to weave full sized Naax̲éin Chilkat & Yeił Koowú Ravenstail ceremonial robes, and has begun her teaching journey by traveling to indigenous communities to do demonstrations and instruct workshops. She believes that traditional and contemporary materials serve as living documents, a testament to indigenous resilience and integrity, and our ability to heal through ceremony.