Crystal Kaakeeyáa Worl Demientieff

 

 

As a Tlingit Athabascan artist, Crystal makes art because she want to remind those who have left home that we come from a special place.  Her family and community have guided her to learn, work, and live for her community. Her practice in storytelling and art comes from the values and lessons of the Tlingit people and her family.

 

Crystal is Raven moiety, Sockeye Clan, from the Raven House.  She is a child of a Thunderbird and from the Chilkat region in Southeast Alaska.  From her mother’s side, she is Deg Hit’an Athabascan from Fairbanks Alaska.  Born February 1988 and raised between Fairbanks and Juneau, she was introduced at a young age to her traditional arts, practices, and

story telling.  In May 2013 she earned her BFA in Studio Arts and an AFA in Moving Images at the Institute of American Indian Arts.

 

Crystal works in jewelry metals, glass, and painting. The forms Crystal focuses on are based on traditional Tlingit form line (aka Northwest Coast Design.)  She practices the recreation and modernization of her Clan’s crest, the Lukaahadi (Sockeye, Raven Clan).  Since a young teen she has been studying and learning the traditional forms of the Tlingit.  Today Crystal utilizes her education to apply new techniques and ways of presenting traditional designs and stories.  

 

"It is my responsibility to carry on my ancestral knowledge of creation and life through contemporary story and art and pass it down to the next generations." - Worl​

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Photograph by Whitney Minthorn