Lisa Telford
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Lisa Telford (born in
Ketchikan, Alaska Ketchikan ( ; tli, Kichx̱áan) is a city in and the borough seat of the Ketchikan Gateway Borough of Alaska. It is the state's southeasternmost major settlement. Downtown Ketchikan is a National Historic District. With a population at the 20 ...
) is a Git'ans Git'anee Haida weaver who creates contemporary garments, shoes and other objects using Northwest Coast style weaving techniques. Her work serves as a commentary on Native identity, stereotypes and fashion. Her baskets may be seen in the collections of The Oregon Historical Society,
Hallie Ford Museum of Art The Hallie Ford Museum of Art (HFMA) is the museum of Willamette University in Salem, Oregon, United States. It is the third largest art museum in Oregon. Opened in 1998, the facility is across the street from the Oregon State Capital in downtow ...
, the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, the
Heard Museum The Heard Museum is a private, not-for-profit museum in Phoenix, Arizona, United States, dedicated to the advancement of American Indian art. It presents the stories of American Indian people from a first-person perspective, as well as exhibitio ...
, the
Portland Art Museum The Portland Art Museum in Portland, Oregon, United States, was founded in 1892, making it one of the oldest art museums on the West Coast and seventh oldest in the US. Upon completion of the most recent renovations, the Portland Art Museum beca ...
, the
Burke Museum The Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture (Burke Museum) is a natural history museum in Seattle, Washington, in the United States. Established in 1899 as the Washington State Museum, it traces its origins to a high school naturalist club fo ...
and at Stonington Gallery.


Training

Telford comes from a long line of weavers including her grandmother, mother, aunt and cousins. Despite her Indiana upbringing, she grew up connected to her culture, visiting Alaska for traditional gatherings and potlatches and participating in traditional dance. For 16 years Telford worked as a carpenter. In 1996, she took a position as a job developer with a nonprofit organization called ANEW — Apprenticeship and Nontraditional Employment for Women and Men. At the age of 35, she began learning to weave traditional Haida baskets from her aunt, Delores Churchill, and traditional cedar garments from her cousin, Holly Churchill.


Creative process

Telford stuck strictly to the tradition of form follows function until 2004 when she went into contemporary cedar clothing, cedar shoes, cowboy boots and neckties. Telford tells of her work: After that, baskets can take Telford five to 200 hours to make. As a young weaver she once sat down and counted every stitch on one of her grandmother's old baskets. "At first my basketry had to be perfect, and then I let it all go and that's when I found true joy". The artist compares making baskets to therapy, saying it helps her relax from the stresses of life. She also called basketry her thread to sanity.


Collaborations

In 2011, Telford worked with glass artist Preston Singletary on an exhibition of women's forms in glass. In 2011, Telford received in the National Native Artist Exchange Grant to work with
Kelly Church Kelly Jean Church ( Match-e-benash-she-wish Potawatomi/Odawa/Ojibwe) is a black ash basket maker, Woodlands style painter, birchbark biter, and educator. Background Kelly Church, a fifth-generation basket maker, was born in 1967. She grew up ...
. She taught Kelly how to find and choose the proper cedar tree for harvesting, how to split and prepare the bark to be stored.


Exhibitions

Hearts of Our People: Native Women Artists, June 2019 -September 2020, organized by the
Minneapolis Institute of Art The Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) is an arts museum located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. Home to more than 90,000 works of art representing 5,000 years of world history, Mia is one of the largest art museums in the United State ...
, Minneapolis, MN


Grants, honors, and awards

* 1998 - demonstrator at the Suquamish Museum and the
Seattle Art Museum The Seattle Art Museum (commonly known as SAM) is an art museum located in Seattle, Washington, United States. It operates three major facilities: its main museum in downtown Seattle; the Seattle Asian Art Museum (SAAM) in Volunteer Park on Cap ...
* 1998 - instructor at the Sealaska Heritage Foundation * 1998 - instructor at the Kootznoowoo Cultural Foundation * 1999 - artist in residence at Eitejorg Museum in Indianapolis * 1999 - artist in residence at the
National Museum of the American Indian The National Museum of the American Indian is a museum in the United States devoted to the culture of the indigenous peoples of the Americas. It is part of the Smithsonian Institution group of museums and research centers. The museum has three ...
/Smithsonian Institution * 1999 - artist in residence at the ATLATL in New York * 2006 - visiting-researcher at the Burke Museum's Bill Holm Center for the Study of Northwest Coast Art * 2011 - received an Artistic Innovation grant from the
Native Arts and Cultures Foundation The Native Arts and Cultures Foundation (NACF) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that supports Native American artists, culture bearers, and Native-led arts organizations, providing them with support through fellowships and project funding. ...
* 2011 - her work was chosen selected as the catalog cover image for "Time Warp: Contemporary Textiles of the Northwest Coast," at the
Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art Bill(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States) * Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature * Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer * Bill, a bird or animal's beak Plac ...
* 2012 - won first place at the 53rd annual Indian Fair & Market at the
Heard Museum The Heard Museum is a private, not-for-profit museum in Phoenix, Arizona, United States, dedicated to the advancement of American Indian art. It presents the stories of American Indian people from a first-person perspective, as well as exhibitio ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Telford, Lisa Living people 20th-century Native American artists 21st-century Native American artists Weavers from Alaska People from Ketchikan, Alaska Native American basket weavers Haida women artists Haida artists Textile artists from Alaska Native American women artists American women basket weavers American basket weavers 20th-century women textile artists 20th-century textile artists Year of birth missing (living people) 20th-century Native American women 21st-century Native American women 21st-century women textile artists 21st-century textile artists