Wooden knife c. late 19th century

Curator: It looks like something taken out of a fairytale—all simple lines and rustic charm. Gives me the shivers actually, a kind of woodland, ancient feeling. Editor: I understand that instinctive reaction. This is a "Wooden knife," carved from wood by a Tlingit artist, around the late 19th century. The knife can be found on display here at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Let's examine this utilitarian item, now elevated to artwork through the maker's hand. Curator: Right, elevated, that's interesting! Because at first glance it’s so, well, grounded. Two faces staring out like ancestral guardians; so unassuming but direct and somehow vulnerable in its craft. Like something both anyone and only one person could create. Editor: The piece speaks to indigenous economies and cultural expression. Tools were often adorned in ways that were highly functional, of course, but simultaneously, carried symbolic meaning rooted in their daily application. We are considering an object demonstrating labor, use and cultural transmission of knowledge through artistic embellishment. Curator: Do you think the relative simplicity might mean something? It’s so un-showy, isn't it? Editor: Exactly, the economy of detail can reflect a resourcefulness of material culture as well as underscore the artist's precise intentionality. It can serve as a critique to elaborate ornamentation by suggesting an innate practicality. It can be that these Tlingit faces may embody something deeper. Perhaps the idea of work, subsistence and also something profoundly human. Curator: I love that it feels like holding time, or rather being held by it. Thinking of the hands that made this and others, like whispers across time. Editor: It is a stark reminder of the hands connected to both artmaking and living. Perhaps both aren't that divisible in certain practices. I am so pleased we had time to think on this piece today! Curator: Agreed, these unexpected things… they catch you when you’re not looking. A little wooden shiver.