Florence Davidson

{{short description|First Nations artist from British Columbia (1896–1993)}} {{Infobox artist | honorific_prefix = | name = Florence Edenshaw Davidson | honorific_suffix = | image = Photo of Florence Davidson.jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = {{small|Florence Davidson weaves a spruce root hat c. 1976.<br />Photo by Ulli Steltzer}} | native_name = Jadał q'egəngá | native_name_lang = Haida language | birth_name =  | birth_date = {{Birth date|1896|09|15}} | birth_place = Masset, Haida Gwaii, British Columbia | death_date ={{Death date and age|1993|12|13|1896|09|15}} | death_place = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates =  | citizenship = Haida and Canadian | education = | alma_mater = | known_for = Traditional basketry and button blankets; consultant on Haida language | notable_works = ''During My Time: Florence Edenshaw Davidson, a Haida Woman'' | style = | movement = | spouse = Robert Davidson (1880–1969) | father = Charles Edenshaw | relatives = Grandsons, Reg Davidson and Robert Davidson | children = {{plainlist| * 13 children, * Daughter, Primrose Adams }} | awards =  | elected = | patrons = | memorials = | website =  }} '''Florence Edenshaw Davidson''' (1896–1993) was a Canadian First Nations artist from Haida Gwaii. She created basketry and button blankets and was a respected elder in her village of Masset, Haida Gwaii, British Columbia.

== Early life == Florence Edenshaw was born in Masset on September 15, 1896, the daughter of the Haida artist Charles Edenshaw (Chief Idɨnsaw) and his wife Isabella (K'woiyəng). She was given the Haida name ''Jadał q'egəngá'' ("Story Maid"). As a child, she help her mother to sew button blankets.

She was of the Raven moiety, of the Y'akwə'lanas lineage, and of the Shark House (''Q'ad Nas''), with crests that included Shark, Two-Finned Killerwhale, and Brown Bear.

== Personal life == She married Robert Davidson (1880–1969), a Haida, on February 23, 1911, and they had 13 children. Her daughter Primrose Adams, also an artist, received the Creative Lifetime Achievement Award for First Nations' Art in 2011.<ref>{{cite web|author=British Columbia Achievement Foundation |url=http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/862471/2011-bc-first-nations-art-awards-announced |title=2011 BC First Nations' Art Awards Announced |publisher=Newswire.ca |date= |accessdate=2016-05-30}}</ref>

== Career == Davidson became renowned for her blankets and for her spruce-root and cedar baskets.

In the 1960s she was consultant on Haida culture and Masset history to the writer Christie Harris, author of ''Raven's Cry.'' She was also a major consultant on Haida language to John Enrico.

She became well known through her collaborative autobiography written with the anthropologist Margaret B. Blackman, published in 1982.

== Death and legacy == Davidson died December 13, 1993. Her artistic legacy continues with her grandsons, the brother Reg Davidson and Robert Davidson, who are woodcarvers and sculptors.

==References== {{Reflist}}

== Further reading == * Blackman, Margaret B. (1982; rev. ed., 1992) ''During My Time: Florence Edenshaw Davidson, a Haida Woman.'' Seattle: University of Washington Press. {{ISBN|9780295959436}} * Harris, Christie (1966) ''Raven's Cry.'' New York: Atheneum. (Revised edition, Vancouver, Douglas & McIntyre, 1992.) * Jensen, Doreen, and Polly Sargent (1986) ''Robes of Power: Totem Poles on Cloth.'' Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press. {{ISBN|9780774802642}} * Macnair, Peter L., Alan L. Hoover, and Kevin Neary (1984) ''The Legacy: Tradition and Innovation in Northwest Coast Indian Art.'' Vancouver, B.C.: Douglas & McIntyre. {{ISBN|9780888944184}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davidson, Florence}} Category:1896 births Category:1993 deaths Category:20th-century First Nations people Category:First Nations basket weavers Category:First Nations textile artists Category:Haida women artists Category:Haida artists Category:Canadian women basket weavers Category:Canadian basket weavers Category:20th-century Canadian women textile artists Category:20th-century Canadian textile artists Category:First Nations women artists