Lisa Telford
A Summer Night’s Do (2017)
Pounded red cedar bark, cotton cord, vintage mother of pearl buttons, feathers
Twining, stitching
Lisa Telford is a Gawa Git’anee Haida weaver whose work challenged any straightforward notion of tradition. Telford learned the art from her aunt, Deloris Churchill, herself a renowned basketmaker. Harvesting her own cedar fiber, Telford carefully removes narrow strips of bark to weave representations of shoes, dresses, and other mass-produced commodities. In doing so, she honors the role of weaving in communal rituals and underscores its historical importance in cultural exchanged and tourism. She also extends the tradition of Haida baskets as wearables. Rather than weaving hats and ceremonial regalia, Telford transforms cedar bark into wardrobe staples of contemporary womanhood. Summer Night’s Do and Evening Out underscore the complexity of authenticity or the antithesis of commercialism, but rather, part of contemporary life.