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Florence Edenshaw Davidson, Haida Elder, artist (born 15 September 1896 in Masset, Haida Gwaii, BC; died 13 December 1993 in Masset). Elder Florence Davidson was a renowned weaver and she made Haida baskets and button blankets (see also Northwest Coast Indigenous Art).
Early Life
Elder Florence Davidson was a daughter of Haida artists Charles and Isabella Edenshaw (see Charles Edenshaw). Her parents named her Jadalq’egenga (meaning "Story Maid"). Davidson came from a long line of distinguished Haida people. She began weaving Haida-style baskets as a girl. She put such works aside with marriage to Robert Davidson Sr. and the subsequent birth of 13 children.
Artistic Career
In 1952, Elder Florence Davidson began making button and appliqué blankets. A weaver of tremendous skill, she made very fine traditional spruce-root and cedar-bark hats. She willingly shared her knowledge of traditional Haida life with her children and grandchildren. She also shared this knowledge with anthropologists, museum curators and art historians. In 1982, Davidson released a collaborative autobiography that she wrote with anthropologist Margaret Blackman. The autobiography is titled During My Time: Florence Edenshaw Davidson, a Haida Woman. Claude Davidson and Primrose Adams, Davidson’s son and daughter respectively, were accomplished artists in Haida traditions. Additionally, her grandsons, Reg and Robert Davidson, and one of her granddaughters, Isabel Rorick, are successful Haida artists.
