Florence Edenshaw Davidson (1896–1993) was a
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
First Nations
First Nations or first peoples may refer to:
* Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area.
Indigenous groups
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**First Natio ...
artist from the
Haida. She created basketry and button-blankets and was a respected elder in her village of
Masset
Masset , formerly ''Massett'', is a village in Haida Gwaii in British Columbia, Canada. It is located on Masset Sound on the northern coast of Graham Island, the largest island in the archipelago, and is approximately west of mainland British Col ...
,
Haida Gwaii
Haida Gwaii (; hai, X̱aaydag̱a Gwaay.yaay / , literally "Islands of the Haida people") is an archipelago located between off the northern Pacific coast of Canada. The islands are separated from the mainland to the east by the shallow Heca ...
,
British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
.
Early life
Florence Edenshaw was born in Masset on September 15, 1896, the daughter of the Haida artist
(Chief Idɨnsaw) and his wife
Isabella
Isabella may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Isabella (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters
* Isabella (surname), including a list of people
Places
United States
* Isabella, Alabama, an unincorpor ...
(K'woiyəng). She was given the Haida name ''Jadał q'egəngá'' ("Story Maid"). As a child, she help her mother to sew
button blankets.
She was of the Raven moiety, of the Y'akwə'lanas lineage, and of the Shark House (''Q'ad Nas''), with crests that included Shark, Two-Finned Killerwhale, and Brown Bear.
Personal life
She married Robert Davidson (1880–1969), a Haida, on February 23, 1911, and had 13 children. Her daughter
Primrose Adams, also an artist, was the 2011 recipient of the
Creative Lifetime Achievement Award for First Nations' Art.
Career
Davidson became renowned for her blankets and for her spruce-root and cedar baskets.
In the 1960s she was consultant on Haida culture and Masset history to the writer
Christie Harris
Christie Lucy Harris, (November 21, 1907 – January 5, 2002) was a Canadian children's writer. She is best known for her portrayal of Haida First Nations culture in the 1966 novel ''Raven's Cry.''
Biography
Harris was born in Newark, New Jer ...
, author of ''Raven's Cry.'' She was also a major consultant on
Haida language
Haida (', ', ', ') is the language of the Haida people, spoken in the Haida Gwaii archipelago off the coast of Canada and on Prince of Wales Island in Alaska. An endangered language, Haida currently has 24 native speakers, though revitalizat ...
to
John Enrico.
She became well known through her collaborative autobiography written with the anthropologist
Margaret B. Blackman, published in 1982.
Death and legacy
Davidson died December 13, 1993. Her artistic legacy continues with her grandsons, the brother
Reg Davidson and
Robert Davidson, who are woodcarvers and sculptors.
References
Further reading
*
Blackman, Margaret B. (1982; rev. ed., 1992) ''During My Time: Florence Edenshaw Davidson, a Haida Woman.'' Seattle: University of Washington Press.
*
Harris, Christie (1966) ''Raven's Cry.'' New York: Atheneum. (Revised edition, Vancouver, Douglas & McIntyre, 1992.)
* Jensen, Doreen, and Polly Sargent (1986) ''Robes of Power: Totem Poles on Cloth.'' Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press.
* Macnair, Peter L., Alan L. Hoover, and Kevin Neary (1984) ''The Legacy: Tradition and Innovation in Northwest Coast Indian Art.'' Vancouver, B.C.: Douglas & McIntyre.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Davidson, Florence
1896 births
1993 deaths
20th-century Canadian women artists
20th-century First Nations people
First Nations basket weavers
First Nations textile artists
Haida artists
Women basketweavers
Women textile artists