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      Holiday Gift Guide: Kp Staff Picks!

      Holiday Gift Guide: Kp Staff Picks!

      Posted by Megan Cochran ·

      Who would we be if we didn't wrap up this year's Holiday Gift Guides with KP Staff Picks? Hero, Kendra, and Sofia shared some of their favorite items in the shop right now. Take a peek at what they chose!⁠

       Hero's Picks:

      My staff pick is Noshinku Hand sanitizer and Snuggle Bunnies gift cards! Noshinku hand sanitizer is easy to carry, sleek, reusable and comes in different scents that make it easy to use on the go! The Snuggle bunnies are mostly just because it's one of the surefire ways to hug someone from a distance and spread the cuteness.

       

       

      Sofia's Picks:

      Show a classy fancy lady in your life that you know what she's about and that you love that for her. These are some dainty high end pieces that are sophisticated enough for an event but simple enough for every day. Personally I think any gal would be pretty jazzed to unwrap one of these-- it will make her feel so special.

       

       

      I'm pretty sure I speak for all planner people when I say we can be a little picky with our layouts. I feel like Appointed really thought about it all when they designed their planners-- tons of space for your brain to sprawl out and jot down every little thing you need to do. They even tend to do a breakdown in the form of a bird's eye view and a worm's eye view-- an overview of the entire month to start, and then a magnification of each week/day/whathaveyou. All that function while managing to be perfectly sleek at the same time. Give someone the gift of a great 2022! 

       

      The cutest place to keep your jewelry! Or incense cone, or special rock-- up to the receiver of this adorable delicate gift.

       

       

      Kendra's Picks:

      This is my staff pick because no matter how much I look at it, I cannot get over the craftsmanship it takes to make each of these pieces. Each piece is hand pulled off of a linoleum cutting and I love when you can see slight differentiations between each pull. It makes it feel a little more handmade and human.

       

       

      Elm Earrings

      This is another work of art where you can see the craftsmanship put into each piece. No piece is the same as the next and each piece melds to your own self as you wear the piece more and more because the metal reacts with the chemicals on your skin. As a scientist, it is always fascinating to see art and science mix together!
       
      As always, thank you for reading and thank you for being our neighbors!

       

      xo team kp

      Leslie Ishii's Gift Guide for Woke Folks

      Leslie Ishii's Gift Guide for Woke Folks

      Posted by Megan Cochran ·

      Welcome to the Gift Guide for Woke Folks curated by Perseverance Theatre's Artistic Director Leslie Ishii! ⁠
      ⁠
      Leslie has a long resume of creative and service work that fills us with awe and admiration, but who is better to tell you all about it than the wonder woman herself?⁠ 

      KP: What do you do by day and what do you do by night?

      LI: By day, I am the Artistic Director - humbly so and proudly so - of Perseverance Theatre and so I do a lot around producing theatre, here locally and for the state of Alaska (that's our mission, professional theatre by and for Alaskans. I'm also an activist, a community organizer, and while that's part of producing theater by and for Alaskans I also work a lot with other kindred spirits in the American theatre field to make sure that we're inclusive, that theatre making is just and equitable, that's informed by my activism with the Japanese community throughout the US, and that we're able to advocate for others in the US who have been detained (e.g. newer immigrants and refugees who have not been treated well), or for any injustice. We're a social justice organization that is suited for solidarity. 

      So just for my own healing and the legacy of my own family, it's important that I'm an activist and a community organizer so that all our colleagues and all of our communities are safe and can thrive and that they're just.

      By night.. Well I have to say, I'm a workaholic so I do some of this work on night, because I juggle a lot of memberships on Boards and being of service. And I give credit to my parents because they taught us to be of service to our community. 

       

      KP: Describe a recent a-ha moment or precious moment.

      LI: At Public Market recently, we thought we were doing a really good job at getting the world out that we've re-opned. But we were so surprised at how many folks were like, "You're open, omg!" So it was lovely to connect with the community and they were excited that we're open and that we'll have the next show - The Brother's Paranormal.  

      And I'll share this with you - I might be leaking - but I'm being called to service to act in that piece. So I'll play the mother and I'm very nervous, hahaha. But the staff is like, you've got to do it! I'm excited and nervous to get back on the stage. But how wonderful to get to support our Asian and Pacific Islander communities in this story telling. Really excited about this show. And wonderful to be at Public Market so people could know that we are up and running. 

       

      KP: What are you looking forward to in 2022?

      LI: So many things. Well this is why I love this book "Holding Change," because I feel like we're making such great strides in shifting / making a new chapter at Perseverance Theatre. But also a lot of work that myself and a lot of colleagues in the field have been doing now for quite some time. We're starting to see change occur in our field, in the American theatre field. So I'm really excited about that. And, I'm just excited to have people back in the theatre. With Voyager One it was so beautiful to see people back, excited, enjoying having a night out. We did all our covid mitigation plans, so it was just lovely to have their trust and see them enjoy it so much. So I am looking forward to how we can keep gathering together as a community in the theatre.

       

       
      "We were almost strangers." I love that. I can't wait to hang this because I feel like I'm a connector and I love to meet people, make relationships, see how we can be of service, or see how I can be of service. So I love the idea of "almost strangers" - that we're connected. 

      "You're a good idea." I love conveying that to the staff at Perseverance Theatre. They have great ideas, and just as humans they're beautiful humans and I want to empower them to have their own agency. That feels right on. So I can't wait to hang that in my office. 

       

       
      I think this is going to be a beautiful gift for my brother. Omg I opened it and "what will i let go of? I'm grateful for… I'll focus on…" For us folks like my brother who's a super Social Justice Warrior I feel like this is going to be really nurturing for him. He gives so much to everyone else. And advocating as a family and the Japanese American community, we work in such a committed, loving way to be of service so that everyone can survive. So to have that focus on yourself first, every day, every morning, to me, is just the right tone. 


      Our dear Erin Tripp came into rehearsal with this new book and I was like, Whattttt! And she leafed through it and there are people in here we know! From Seattle or throughout the Northwest. Princess Daazhraii Johnson, Aaron Yazzie, Janet Mock…  it was like a who's who, it's beautiful! 
      So I thought at some point I've got to get this book. So this is my Christmas gift to myself.

       

       

      This is a really beautiful book. I was thumbing through it thinking, I need to keep learning for my own self- education. I think I'd like to put this in the office for our staff to refer to. We have so many colleagues in our field that are being able to identify now as non-biary, non-confirming, and I'm a cis gender heterosexual woman, a woman of color, but I hold privilege in this area of my identity. So I thought I need to keep learning and I want to make sure our staff is making a good, safe, brave space and this is a good reference for all of us to keep our self-education going. 

       

       

      I love emergent strategy. adrienne maree brown, what a hero, or shero, I should say. I can't wait to look at this; I've been hearing about this book so that's another one that I'll probably read. Our staff loves emergent strategy so we actually use that iterative / evolving process so this is another good one to add to our library and have available.

       

       

      Recipes for Self Love
      Omg, how beautiful! The drawings and some of the sayings in here: "you dont need permission to be yourself," "skin is a feminist issue," "check in with yoruself." So many beautiful reminders, lessons, and so beautifully illustrated, too. This is another one that I think we can have in the office as we're dismantling patriarchy in the theatre world.

       

       

      Candles & Juneau Hand-Painted Dreidel
      One of my colleagues just moved here and identifies as Jewish and so I have these 45 candles for her menorah. I'm really excited to be able to offer this gift to her; it's my way of contributing to the holiday, it's a non-western holiday, and supporting her and celebrating her.  And this dreidel, I love this dreidel! It's of Southeast, and it has a whale, and I love the stand which looks like water. So I'm excited to offer that too as part of her Hanukkah gift.

       

       

      This is for stocking stuffers for my family; I get to visit them. These chocolates -potato cip crisp, what! OMG! And you gotta have the superfoods. I love it. A little sweetness in our life never hurt. 

       

      A Mother Maker's Gift Guide from Lily Hope

      A Mother Maker's Gift Guide from Lily Hope

      Posted by Megan Cochran ·

      Lily Hope is a cultural and creative force in the Juneau community and she rallies behind every artist she meets - building her legacy by teaching others and lifting them up. We are so proud to have Lily as both a friend and an artist whose work we showcase here at Kindred Post. Her curating choices are top notch, so you're gonna want to read on for all the goodies!

      "Being a maker and a mother requires a lot of support. This collection embodies the best of KP to nurture an exhausted mother maker."

      KP: What do you do by day and what do you do by night?

      LH: I am a Chilkat and Ravenstail weaver and teacher by day, full time mother all night and weekends and an enthusiast of other artists embracing and pursuing their best work. 

       

      KP: Describe a recent a-ha moment or precious moment.

      LH: A recent aha moment is that rest and “not working” is just as important as productivity. And asking for help is a sign of strength. 

       

      KP: What are you looking forward to in 2022?

      LH: I’m looking forward to traveling with my children, sharing more about textiles from the North West coast and being more intentional about recreation and rest.

       

      Rifle Paper Co. Floral Appointment Calendar and Floral Monthly Planner

      If we can’t have a calendar of Formline *hint hint crystal worl* gorgeous florals are the next best. Analog is not dead and I still get the best productivity out of handwriting my tasks/appointments/and playdates. 

       

       

      365 Days of Art in Nature and Bright Ideas Colored Pencils 

      My best resets for productivity and creative inspiration are found in our landscapes. These books and pencils accompany me to the water’s edge, to the mountain meadows, ultimately to my next best work. 

       

       

       

      Mischief Makers Handbook and Flash Bubble Gun:

      I’m forever seeking the next uninterrupted 20 minutes of quiet where my children are happily occupied not on the screens and squealing about their activities. I imagine collaborative mayhem while the older children lead the youngers through science, music and magic.

       

       

      PF Candle Co. Sunbloom Reed Oil Diffuser 

      I choose Sunbloom to bring in the sun. This fragrance happily masks the un-scooped kitty litter and the not yet washed dish towels. The reeds feel safer than incense around my small children. 

       

       

      Black Rekonect Notebook and Silver OHTO Fountain Pen

       

      As an extension of my analog life, I find the magnetic pages of this notebook necessary and reassuring. That I can make creative scribbles, and easily archive them. I love the weight of this pen, the color of this pen, and the line that it makes on paper. These paired together are my black and silver brand of lily hope weaver so of course I had to have them.

       

       

      Fresh AK Cookbook

      I hate dinner. I hate the interruption of thinking and planning and making dinner. I can open this cookbook and present an Alaskan feast for my children without fancy shopping lists or spending two hours in a kitchen. Try the three sister’s salsa!

       

       

      Fresh Squeeze Cocktail Jar and Nightcap Compartes Chocolate Bar

      The sweetest hour of the day comes on the heels of snoring children. I save the good chocolate and special drinks for my solo quiet time, happily binge watching whatever show and weaving a pair of earrings. I pair my cocktails with Amalga Distillery Rhubarb Gin or any of their whiskeys.

       

       

      Chunks Amber Sunglasses and Copper Canoe Woman Earrings

       I have these glasses in three colors… but the amber is specifically energizing and for creativity (it’s also my favorite color used in Chilkat ceremony blankets). I have to pair them with Copper Canoe Woman, for fashion, for identity, for fun!  

      A Tastemaker's Holiday Gift Guide by Brandon Howard

      A Tastemaker's Holiday Gift Guide by Brandon Howard

      Posted by Megan Cochran ·

      A local Juneau Tastemaker, Brandon Howard puts a great deal of thought into the things he curates for his and his wife's business, Amalga Distillery. We knew we could count on him to choose creative and useful gifts for this gift guide. Here's what he had to say about the collection:

      It can be really hard to put something together in here cause I don’t have a ton of time to cruise and browse and I forget how many great objects there are in here and I want pretty much everything. Theme of nice things I enjoy having. Things that would make my home better since I spend a lot of time there these days. 

       

      KP: What do you do by day and what do you do by night?

      BH: By day I am a stay at home dad hanging out with my toddler who is 2.5 years old. By night “afternoon” I am doing all the housekeeping and background stuff for Amalga Distillery. Getting to make whiskey. The credit for the gin goes to my wife, she’s definitely the boss lady of amalga distillery. 

       

      KP: Describe a recent ‘a-ha’ moment or precious moment.

      BH: When you live with a toddler, it’s like a daily thing. There are like constant ridiculously adorable and precious. It was about a month ago, we got a puppy a while ago (classic pandemic puppy right?) People thought we are crazy for having a puppy while having a toddler. We were hoping the puppy and child would have fun and entertain each other. And it it definitely a ruckus, right? The other day they were both running around being absolutely crazy together and they both jumped on the couch and they instantly cuddled each other and my toddler let me know that “willow june (dog) is my best friend”. Like for one: How did you know the phrase best friend? I don’t walk around talking about best friends! Like where did you even pick that up? But also, wow this is exactly what I was hoping for! The precious moments are just constant though. I’m like floating through this ridiculously precious life with a toddler and a puppy.

       

      KP: What are you looking forward to in 2022?

      BH: I’m excited to, as we kinda adjust to the constant changes of navigating a global pandemic, I’m really excited to start working on my own art again outside the distillery as well as new projects that I think would be really cool for the community. I used to make pots and I miss it, I miss it a lot. I think a big thing we wanted when we opened the distillery, was to hold a space for artists. Like pre-pandemic we used to host first fridays. Actually that’s the thing I’m really looking forward to in 2022: creating a more focused space in our business for showing art.

       

      My Chemex is one of my favorite things. Already uses a chemex and it is definitely the best way to make coffee, hands down. You can’t get a cleaner cup of coffee. The French press is hard to nail. Chemex is fast and easy and great 100% of the time. It changed coffee for me. Didn’t realize how many flavor notes there really were. There’s enough filters to last you a while. You only need 4 boxes a year. 

       

      I've been eying these for a long time. They are simple and beautiful. The chemex and these mugs are unobtrusive and these are beautiful on a counter space. Stack nicely, good in hand, look beautiful, nice texture. 

       

       

      Rifle Paper Co Pen

      My number one pen is the horizon. Nervous clicker - this is for you. Also is the finest pen, so you can write super small in documents that are way too small to write in. Horizon doesn't smear on write in the rain paper, WHEN ITS NOT RAINING. Rifle - really likes floral prints. This is a good sit down and write in a notebook or a letter kind of pen. Leisure pen. Good pens make the experience of writing better. The smoothest, great heft, works really really well. HOWEVER DOES NOT WORK WELL IN WRITE IN THE RAIN.

       

      Large Brown Blank Moleskine 

      I prefer the blank paper moleskine. A lot of times I’m a loose sketch doodle while writing down notes kind of person, not having lines helps with that. Lots of times I’m doing measurements for things at the distillery. Lineless = versatility. No offense to people who love lined notebooks but the lines are just a little too far apart in moleskine for him to like it. 

       

       

      Wild Sweetness Cookbook

      Not a sweets for dessert person, but sweets with coffee. Early afternoon coffee, late morning coffee. When the cookbooks are pretty, I reach for them more. It helps when the book pulls you in because you want to flip through it and browse it. The prettier the cookbook, the more often me and my wife end up using it. People putting together cookbooks must put in a lot of thought into how cookbooks are made. The recipes in this book look incredible. The dense fernet cake drew him in. Between the recipe, and plenty of white space, and nice picture, he really loves this book.

       

       

       PF Candle Co. Sunbloom Candle

      I was never a candle person until my wife came along. Has not come across a bad scent with this company. None of them are perfume-y. It’s not your typical yankee candle. These redeemed scented candles for me. They contribute to a space instead of just being a candle.

       Radical Softness Pin

      I can’t come into KP without picking up some little KP flavor. The enamel pins are just a sweet reminder of how cool it is to have a community focused post office like this, combined with reminders like SJH, that pin, that hoodie, has been insanely important for so many people with everything that has happened the last couple of years. I picked radical softness because it’s the one I don’t have. I like the juxtaposition of radical softness. KP is so welcoming and so warm but it has never compromised values for the way it presents and advocates. You can be radical and welcoming and warm and inclusive.

       Bering Sea Sea Otter Fur Earrings

      They are just like beautiful and so unique and made by a local artist and it is one of his wife’s favorites. They are definitely one of my favorite pairs of earrings to see on my wife. 

       

      Celebrating Artists of Color

      Celebrating Artists of Color

      Posted by Christy NaMee Eriksen ·

      Celebrating and supporting artists of color has been an important part of our work since our very humble beginnings. We know that racism touches our lives in personal and systemic ways, and that the color of our skin affects our outcomes in education, health, finance, career, and more. At Kindred Post we make curatorial choices to find and prioritize artists of color in order to do our part to overcome the barriers they inevitably encounter due to their identity. 


      We also want Kindred Post to be a place where people feel represented, at home. As a person of color myself (Asian American), I know what it's like to walk into a gallery/conference/classroom/store and think, oh, this wasn't made for me. For most of my life and even today, at almost every public place I go, I am not the target audience. 


      I wonder sometimes if white people think about that: that things marketed to the "general public" are really just marketed to you, made for you. I saw a medical drawing of a black fetus growing inside a black woman circulating the internet recenly and we were all losing our minds because it was the first time any of us had ever seen a non-white fetus drawing. Women of all races get pregnant of course. Think of how many pamphlets or diagrams we have referenced as a way of imagining the intimate magic of life growing inside our bodies, and even this can only be imagined in whiteness. 


      I don't mean to get off track with examples of white privilege. My point is that if Kindred Post was a medical office, when we opened we set out to have diagrams of fetuses of every color, so that each precious mom who walked in could know that in both daily life and in imagination, we know that they are real. 


      We see you and you belong here. 


      Further: Not only are we interested in greater equity and greater representation for artists of color, we are interested in the community-wide benefits of including and celebrating diverse worldviews. Every artist, no matter their race, imbues the things they create with parts of themselves. What they choose to see, draw, carve, weave, collect, name, interpret, share - all of these are unique to each artist, influenced by their identity and relationship to the world. The more diverse art we curate, the more truths we tell and listen to and learn from. We (each and every one of us, all races) benefit from this.


      Therefore, we have been working on collecting demographic information from our artists to ensure that we have data to support our goals and our intuition. This has been a large, ongoing, evolving project, and we ourselves are learning how to ask the right questions, so we thank you for your patience and forgiveness with any of our mistakes.



      A side benefit is that we now have added a collection to our website where you can see work by our artists of color. We are sharing it now, in a robust but still incomplete version. Please know that there are some artists on our website who identify as an artist of color but may not have been surveyed and filtered into this collection yet (and if this is you, you should e-mail us because that will help us with this project!). Please use this collection as a point of departure and not a definitive guide. 


      Thank you for joining us in lifting up artists of color and their work. And thank you, artists, for offering a piece of yourselves to the world in this way. May we take good care of our stories and each other.