Chief's Headdress Item Number: 3181/1 from the MOA: University of British Columbia

Description

Chief's headdress in raven's tail design. Headdress is tall and round, open at crown and topped with a thick circle of fur. The exterior is covered in black and white weaving in 'lightning' design on the sides, and 'diamond within a diamond' design at front, covered by a thick copper-shaped frontlet made of dark red glass. The interior is covered with leather. At back falls a train with the lightning weave pattern, backed by grey ultra-suede, surrounded on the sides and bottom with thick fringes of wool. Nine ermine furs, white with black tail tips, are attached to the train. The headdress can be tightened with a cord and plastic clip under the train at back.

Narrative

Purchase funds for this acquisition came from a donation from Dr. Brenda Focht and the Ruth Read Bequest. The artist also donated part of the cost of the piece.

Specific Techniques

Raven's Tail chief's headdress with contemporary red glass frontlet, hung with ermine tails and topped with fur; lined with leather and ultrasuede. Artist's statement: "The woven design on the reverse and on the majority of the headband is the ancestral design known as Lightning. The ancestral design in the centre of the headband is Diamond within Diamond. It was woven in that space in order to marry the weaving with the glass frontlet so that the two distinct entities of ancestral and contemporary might come together and be visually read as one."