About Janine Gibbons
Janine Gibbons is a multidisciplinary, award-winning Alaskan artist of Haida descent. Born in Ketchikan, Alaska in 1977, she is a member of the Yahgulaanas Raven Clan. Her primary crests include Grizzly Bear, Dogfish, Double-Fin Killer Whale, and Berry Picker in the Moon.
Janine’s work is deeply rooted in the waters and lands of the Pacific, drawing from their shifting colors, energies, and languages. Her practice spans illustration, design, jewelry, and cultural storytelling, often bridging ancestral knowledge with contemporary form.
Her most recent work includes illustrating We Are Who We Are (2026), written by Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew and published by Tundra Books / Penguin Random House, expanding her reach to international audiences.
She has illustrated multiple titles for Sealaska Heritage Institute’s Baby Raven Reads series, including Raven Makes the Aleutians, an American Indian Youth Literature Award Honor Book, The Woman Carried Away by Killer Whales, The Woman Who Married the Bear, and Nang Jáadaa Sg̱áana ‘Láanaa aa Isdáayaan, published entirely in the Haida language, Xaad Kíl. She is currently working on two additional titles with Sealaska Heritage Institute.
Janine also illustrated four books in the Haida Sk’ad’a story series, authored by Sgaan Jaadgu San Glans Sara Florence Davidson, PhD, and her father, internationally acclaimed Haida artist and Officer of the Order of Canada, Guud San Glans Robert Davidson. These titles include Jigging for Halibut with Tsinii, Learning to Carve Argillite, Returning to the Yakoun River, and Dancing With Our Ancestors.
Since 2002, her beaded and enamel jewelry has been exhibited and collected internationally, with work featured in over 100 galleries, museums, and fine gift stores, including the Seattle Art Museum and the Smithsonian Renwick Gallery. She has been featured in multiple editions of Where Women Create Magazine, most recently in the Spring 2026 issue. https://womencreate.com/janine-gibbons/
Janine currently divides her time between Southeast Alaska and Hawaiʻi, continuing to create work that reflects ocean pathways, cultural exchange, and the continuity of Indigenous knowledge across generations.
“Particularly when we are out in nature we can sense our ancestors. Even if we cannot see them, we feel them: picking berries just as they did, catching fish, or simply losing track of time in conversation. The scent of the ocean, the rain, the trees, the fog, the sound of whales, eagles, and ravens—it’s all part of our DNA.”
— Janine Gibbons, Where Women Create Magazine
Education: Janine Gibbons holds a Bachelor of Arts in Art from Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado, where she focused on sculpture, painting, and art history. She studied Jewelry Design and Manufacturing at Minneapolis Community and Technical College, and is also a graduate of the Art Institute of Seattle and Lane Community College in Eugene, Oregon.