Made by accomplished Haida artist Diane Douglas Willard, this stunning cedar bark berry basket is embroidered with waxed linen thread in a Raven’s tail design. Willard attended the Indian Studies Program at the University of Washington under Bill Holm and Marvin Oliver. She grew up in Bellingham, WA but moved to Ketchikan, Alaska, to learn basketry weaving from Delores Churchill.

Willard’s weavings blend traditional Haida basketry techniques with contemporary designs. Her use of Raven’s tail weaving applied to cedar bark basketry is exemplary of how contemporary artists are exploring new and unique ways of representing their cultures and juxtaposing the old with the new. Over the years Willard’s baskets have won multiple ribbons at the Annual Santa Fe Indian Market, with this basket winning the 3rd place ribbon at the 86th annual market in 2008.

This basket is an extraordinary example of Willard’s work, woven with warps of red cedar, wrapped around yellow cedar wefts in a twining style. There are three rows of slip stitch on the lower half of the basket and two rows of three strand twining framing the black and white raven’s tail design. Black and white plastic beads hang from two loose strands of waxed linen near the basket’s rim.

–Sarah Raven