Folk Arts - Master Artist - Holly Churchill

Traditional Haida weaving is an art form only known by very few elders and individuals. Haida weaving is in danger of becoming obsolete, and was nearly lost during the twentieth century. Holly Churchill’s mother and grandmother were instrumental in maintaining its existence for future generations. Today Holly Churchill continues to pass on traditional Haida weaving, ensuring that the traditional art form is not lost forever.

As a recipient of a 1997 Apprenticeship grant, Churchill taught Lisa Telford advanced traditional Haida weaving designs and techniques. Churchill focused her teachings to harvesting and preparing fibers for weaving, and different traditional designs and methods for producing them. In conclusion to the apprenticeship, Telford demonstrated her new weaving methods to an audience at the Burke Museum.

Lisa Telford traveled from her home in Everett, Washington to Ketchikan, Alaska, to fulfill her apprenticeship with Holly Churchill. A Haida woman herself, Telford learned the basic techniques of basket weaving from Churchill’s mother, Haida elder and renowned basket weaver Delores Churchill. Recognizing that she needed to learn about designs specific to Haida basketry, Telford applied for a grant from the Folk Arts Program, in order to study with the younger Churchill. Telford loves to weave and offers to teach her art to anyone interested.