Lisa Andersson
Lisa Andersson – Yak x waan tlaa'
Lisa was born in Juneau, Alaska, in 1961. She is Tlingit of the Raven moiety from Hoonah, Tak dein taan (clan), K'aa shayee hit (tribal house). She is a fourth-generation traditional artist working in the areas of beading, weaving, design, and painting.
Lisa’s first project was when she was 13 years old, her mother Pauline Andersson (Rudolph) sat her down, with her three sisters, to bead small flowers for their grandmother. At the same time, as she showed an interest in painting, her father Sven Andersson had Lisa start painting Tlingit designs on wood. Lisa's love for painting has been life long as she graduated as a journeyman painter from Allö skolan in Kristianstad, Sweden in 1976.
In 2008 Lisa received an occupational endorsement in Northwest Coast Art with an emphasis in Basketry from the University of Alaska Southeast. Her first introduction to weaving was as a college student when she took a spruce root basketry class from Delores Churchill in the late-nineties. During the same time period she was taught Chilkat weaving from Cheryl Samuels.
Creating traditional art is a way of life handed down from her ancestors. Each piece of art is Lisa's way of sharing her culture, expressing existence, and cultural meaning.