About the Artists:
Bill & Clarissa Hudson

What can we say, we love creating.   Paintings, prints, stories, theater pieces, video, sculptures, Native American dance regalia, costumes, songs, posters.  We even like making web sites and electronic resumes.

We've been married since 1977.  We met in 1973 at the Teenage Club, in Juneau, Alaska; we were both making posters for the Club's upcoming pool tournament.  (Clarissa took second place in the tournament,  I just watched.)  When we realized that we liked each other, well, that led to hugging and kissing, and that led to marriage and three children.

When the kids came along, we started looking for ways to earn a living that allowed us to stay home with them.  Since we both loved making art (of various kinds) it was just natural to turn our livingroom and basement into art studios.

Clarissa has lately focused her energies on artwork inspired by her Alaskan Native heritage.  After apprenticing to master Chilkat weaver Jennie Thlunaut in 1986, she began teaching Chilkat weaving to local Native women and organizing yearly gatherings of the Shax'saani Keek' Weavers Circle.  She also studied clothing design and metalsmithing at the Institute of American Indian Art in Santa Fe, NM   She has since produced some 40 traditional Alaskan ceremonial robes, as well as numerous traditionally-inspired carvings, paintings, and collages.  Her works have won numerous awards.

Clarissa also spent five years working with the Naa Kahidi Native Theater, as costume & set designer, tour manager, stage manager, actress and singer/musician, touring the US, Canada, and Europe.  She doesn't want to tour again, but she still loves designing costumes as much as ever.

Bill worked as a commercial artist and screen printer for over twenty years.  He started out his artistic career as a musical instrument maker, building over 50 instruments including flutes, harps, Appalachian dulcimers, hammered dulcimers, and African mbiras.  He then moved into graphic design, specializing in handprinted silkscreen posters and designs that included Alaskan Native motifs.

Bill also worked for many years as a theatrical designer for Juneau's Preseverance Theater, and directed and produced numerous original productions, specializing in family-oriented theater.  In 1994, he founded the Pagosa Pretenders Family Theater to promote the involvement of whole families in creating original plays.

He publishes a daily news web site, the Pagosa Daily Post, for his home community of Pagosa Springs, and also designs web sites and produces video documentaries.