Tanis S'eiltin

S’eiltin’s mother was Maria Miller, a master weaver of Chilkat robes who taught her daughter how to skin-sew. In 1986, she graduated from the University of Alaska—Fairbanks with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Printmaking, and in 1992, from the University of Arizona with a Master of Fine Arts in Mixed Media. S’eiltin won a Klukwan Heritage Grant from Klukwan Incorporated (Juneau, Alaska) in 1996, and first place at Bellingham’s Whatcom Museum of History and Art show "Transforming Traditions: Art of Native America". Currently, she is an associate professor of art and humanities at Fairhaven College at Western Washington University. Her mixed media pieces both honor her ancestors by her integration of natural materials and sewing skills, and oppose the colonized tenants of both dominant western art and viewpoints about Native peoples by combining traditional art techniques with innovative multi-media installations or objects.