A lidded basket by prolific Haida master weaver Holly Churchill. Holly hails from a long line of renowned Haida weavers. She was taught how to harvest and prepare cedar bark and spruce roots by her grandmother, Selina Peratrovich (Haida, c.1890-1984) and learned basketry weaving from her widely celebrated mother, Delores Churchill (Haida, b. 1929). Holly’s baskets can be found in several museum and gallery collections throughout the United States and Canada, including the Totem Heritage Center in Ketchikan, Alaska, and the Burke Museum at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington. Holly is also a well-known weaving teacher and is an integral part of the revival of Haida basket weaving.

This fine basket is woven in a plain twinning style with a band of “blanket” pattern applied to the side of the basket with dyed grass using a false embroidery technique. Above and below the band of Blanket pattern are two rows of red cedar in a “strawberry” pattern woven with an overlay technique.

Sarah Raven