Officials, artists and key Southeast Alaska figures alongside U.S. Postal Service leadership unveil the Raven Story stamp as part of the official release ceremony in front of the Sealaska Heritage Institute’s Walter Soboleff Building on Friday, July 30, 2021. (Michael S. Lockett / Juneau Empire)

Officials, artists and key Southeast Alaska figures alongside U.S. Postal Service leadership unveil the Raven Story stamp as part of the official release ceremony in front of the Sealaska Heritage Institute’s Walter Soboleff Building on Friday, July 30, 2021. (Michael S. Lockett / Juneau Empire)

Northwest Coast to post: Stamp featuring Raven, designed by Tlingit artist gets release

It marks the first time a Tlingit design has been featured on a stamp, according to SHI.

More than 100 people gathered in front of the Sealaska Heritage Institute’s Walter Soboleff Building on Friday morning to celebrate the national release of Tlingit and Athabascan artist Rico Lanáat’ Worl’s Raven Story stamp.

The stamp, thought to be the first stamp designed by a Tlingit artist, depicts popular traditional figure Raven in the story “Raven and the Box of Daylight.”

“I want to say how proud I am of our art, which has been around for thousands of years, being brought to the national stage in this way,” said Marlene Johnson, chair of the SHI board of trustees. [Rico] had a goal to tell the story of Indigenous people, the story that we are still here. We have been here for 10,000 years and we’ll be here for 10,000 more.”

Raven is an especially prominent figure in the traditional stories of the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian people, Johnson said.

“Rico had to tell our origin story on the smallest canvas imaginable, a canvas less than 1 inch on the longest side,” Johnson said. “Rico, I say you have done good. You have told the nation we are still here.”

Michael S. Lockett / Juneau Empire 
Jakki Strako, U.S. Postal Service’s chief commerce and business solutions officer and executive vice president, addresses the crowd during the official ceremony for the release of the Raven Story stamp in front of the Sealaska Heritage Institute’s Walter Soboleff Building on Friday, July 30, 2021.

Michael S. Lockett / Juneau Empire Jakki Strako, U.S. Postal Service’s chief commerce and business solutions officer and executive vice president, addresses the crowd during the official ceremony for the release of the Raven Story stamp in front of the Sealaska Heritage Institute’s Walter Soboleff Building on Friday, July 30, 2021.

A national platform

The United States Postal Service’s high-profile release of the stamp in Juneau is intended to honor the USPS’ tight relationship the isolated communities of Alaska, said David Rupert, a communications manager for the Postal Service.

“We are in Alaska and Alaska is in us. We’re committed to you,” Rupert said in an interview. “Having this ceremony here, now, is an affirmation of that commitment. It’s part of our Delivering for America plan.”

Michael S. Lockett / Juneau Empire 
Dancers perform during an official release ceremony for the Raven Story stamp in front of the Sealaska Heritage Institute’s Walter Soboleff Building on Friday, July 30, 2021.

Michael S. Lockett / Juneau Empire Dancers perform during an official release ceremony for the Raven Story stamp in front of the Sealaska Heritage Institute’s Walter Soboleff Building on Friday, July 30, 2021.

The Delivering for American plan is an organizational overhaul the U.S.P.S. is currently undertaking to modernize and streamline operations across the entire Postal Service, Rupert said. In Alaska, the Anchorage hub is currently getting upgraded sorting machinery to help make operations more efficient, Rupert said.

“We truly have a world culture and stamps allow us to weave together the diverse threads of our national tapestry,” said Jakki Krage Strako, U.S.P.S. chief commerce and business solutions officer and executive vice president, during the ceremony. “The Raven stamp epitomises the best of the U.S.A. and it always will.”

Rico Lanáat’ Worl, artist of the Raven Story stamp, which is according to SHI the first Tlingit design featured on a stamp, speaks to the crowd at the official release ceremony in front of the Sealaska Heritage Institute’s Walter Soboleff Building on Friday, July 30, 2021. (Michael S. Lockett / Juneau Empire)

Rico Lanáat’ Worl, artist of the Raven Story stamp, which is according to SHI the first Tlingit design featured on a stamp, speaks to the crowd at the official release ceremony in front of the Sealaska Heritage Institute’s Walter Soboleff Building on Friday, July 30, 2021. (Michael S. Lockett / Juneau Empire)

A legacy of representing

For Worl himself, representing and giving voice to an ancient tradition of art and culture was a big part of the Raven Story stamp.

“This isn’t me presenting this work, but it is thousands of years of my people and work and hustle developing this art style,” Worl said. “My sister and I have always worked hard to represent through the Trickster Company brands and that’s how this began.”

The Raven Story stamp came from a chance occurrence when stamp designer Antonio Alcalá saw some of Worl’s Trickster Company products in the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. From there, a conversation opened, leading to the Raven Story stamps due to be released in 2020, but pushed back by the pandemic until Friday, when it received its long-overdue release.

Michael S. Lockett / Juneau Empire 
Frank Henry Kaash Katasse regales guests at the official release of the Raven Story stamp with a retelling of the traditional story in front of the Sealaska Heritage Institute’s Walter Soboleff Building on Friday, July 30, 2021.

Michael S. Lockett / Juneau Empire Frank Henry Kaash Katasse regales guests at the official release of the Raven Story stamp with a retelling of the traditional story in front of the Sealaska Heritage Institute’s Walter Soboleff Building on Friday, July 30, 2021.

During the ceremony, Juneau playwright, actor and educator Frank Henry Kaash Katasse treated guests to a rendition of the traditional origin story.

“Art is who we are. It is embedded in our own culture. We see our ancestors,” said Ricardo Worl, marketing and development director of SHI and uncle to Rico. “It is as if Raven is flying back to bring us daylight once again.”

The Raven Story isn’t the first example of Tlingit culture to appear on an American stamp. That distinction belongs to a series of stamps from 1996 featuring Alaska Native and Native American dances, including renowned Tlingit artist Nathan Jackson performing a Raven dance. Jackson himself was present at the ceremony Friday, dancing as part of the ceremony.

“We don’t really have a word for stamps,” said linguist, University of Alaska Southeast professor and moderator of the ceremony Lance X̱’unei Twitchell, who improvised a translation meaning approximately “paper, around the paper, sticky paper.”

Michael S. Lockett / Juneau Empire
Renowned Northwest Coast artist Nathan Jackson poses in front of the stamp that depicts him performing a Raven dance in 1996. Jackson was present during the official release ceremony for the Raven Story stamp in front of the Sealaska Heritage Institute’s Walter Soboleff Building on Friday, July 30, 2021.

Michael S. Lockett / Juneau Empire Renowned Northwest Coast artist Nathan Jackson poses in front of the stamp that depicts him performing a Raven dance in 1996. Jackson was present during the official release ceremony for the Raven Story stamp in front of the Sealaska Heritage Institute’s Walter Soboleff Building on Friday, July 30, 2021.

Want to bring the Raven Story home?

The USPS printed 18 million Raven Story stamps, Rupert said. They’re available for purchase at all post offices and available for purchase with free shipping online at the USPS online store at https://store.usps.com/store/product/buy-stamps/raven-story-S_478004.

More in News

Michael Penn / Juneau Empire File
The Aurora Borealis glows over the Mendenhall Glacier in 2014.
Aurora Forecast

Forecasts from the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Geophysical Institute for the week of March. 19

An otter sleeps on the ice near an open channel (Courtesy Photo / Jos Bakker)
On the Trails: Spring comes slowly

As I await more and bigger signs of spring, there have been good things to see along the trails.

State Sen. Bert Stedman, center, co-chair of the Senate Finance Committee, presides over a committee hearing Thursday. The committee on Monday approved an $8.4 million fast-track supplemental budget to address staff shortages in processing food stamps, public defenders and legal advocates for vulnerable residents. (AP Photo/Becky Bohrer)
Bill with funds to address food stamps backlog goes to governor

Legislature gives near-unanimous approval to hiring extra staff to fix months-long backlog

(Michael Penn / Juneau Empire File)
Police calls for Tuesday, March 28, 2023

This report contains information from law enforcement and public safety agencies.

Hoonah’s Masters Bracket team poses for a group photo on Saturday after being crowned this year’s champs for the M bracket in the Gold Medal Basketball Tournament at JDHS. (Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire)
Hoonah crowned Gold Medal Masters Bracket champs

Hoonah’s Albert Hinchman named MVP.

President Joe Biden speaks during an event in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Thursday, March 23, 2023, celebrating the 13th anniversary of the Affordable Care Act. Recent moves by President Joe Biden to pressure TikTok over its Chinese ownership and approve oil drilling in an untapped area of Alaska are testing the loyalty of young voters, a group that’s been largely in his corner. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
Biden’s moves on Willow, TikTok test young voters

A potential TikTok ban and the Alaska drilling could weigh down reelection bid.

Students dance their way toward exiting the Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé gymnasium near the end of a performance held before a Gold Medal Basketball Tournament game between Juneau and Hydaburg. (Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire)
Over $2,500 raised for Tlingit language and culture program during Gold Medal performance

A flurry of regionwide generosity generated the funds in a matter of minutes.

Legislative fiscal analysts Alexei Painter, right, and Conor Bell explain the state’s financial outlook during the next decade to the Senate Finance Committee on Friday. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Legislators eye oil and sales taxes due to fiscal woes

Bills to collect more from North Slope producers, enact new sales taxes get hearings next week.

The FBI Anchorage Field Office is seeking information about this man in relation to a Wednesday bank robbery in Anchorage, the agency announced Thursday afternoon. Anyone with information regarding the bank robbery can contact the FBI Anchorage Field Office at 907-276-4441 or tips.fbi.gov. Tips can be submitted anonymously.  (FBI)
FBI seeks info in Anchorage bank robbery

The robbery took place at 1:24 p.m. on Wednesday.

Most Read