Lisa Telford
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Lisa Telford (born in
Ketchikan, Alaska Ketchikan ( ; ) is a city in and the borough seat of the Ketchikan Gateway Borough on Revillagigedo Island of Alaska. It is the state's southeasternmost major settlement. Downtown Ketchikan is a National Historic Landmark District. With a p ...
) is a Git'ans Git'anee
Haida Haida may refer to: Haida people Many uses of the word derive from the name of an indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. * Haida people, an Indigenous ethnic group of North America (Canada) ** Council of the Haida Nati ...
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 The Oregon Historical Society (OHS) is an organization that encourages and promotes the study and understanding of the history of the State of Oregon, within the broader context of U.S. history. Incorporated in 1898, the Society collects, preser ...
,
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 downtown ...
, the
Smithsonian 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 ...
, 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 (PAM) is an art museum in downtown Portland, Oregon, United States. The Portland Art Museum has 240,000 square feet (22,000 m2), with more than 112,000 square feet (10,400 m2) of gallery space. The museum’s permanent c ...
, the
Burke Museum The Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture (commonly as Burke Museum) is a natural history museum on the campus of the University of Washington, in Seattle, Washington (state), Washington, United States. It is administered by the University ...
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 Haida may refer to: Haida people Many uses of the word derive from the name of an indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. * Haida people, an Indigenous ethnic group of North America (Canada) ** Council of the Haida Nati ...
baskets from her aunt,
Delores Churchill Delores E. Churchill (; born 1929) is a Native American (Haida) artist. She is a weaver of baskets, hats, robes, and other regalia, as well as leading revitalization efforts for Haida, her native language. Background Churchill was born in Mas ...
, 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. She lives in Michigan. Background Kelly Jean Church, a fifth-generation basket maker, wa ...
. 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 List of largest art museums, largest ar ...
, 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 (state), Washington, United States. The museum operates three major facilities: its main museum in downtown Seattle; the Seattle Asian Art Museum in ...
* 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) organization, 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that supports Native American artists, culture bearers, and Native Americans in the United States, Native-led arts organizations, providi ...
* 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 * 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 Alaska Native people 21st-century Alaska Native people 20th-century Native American artists 21st-century Native American artists Alaska Native women 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 American women textile artists 20th-century American 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 American textile artists