Yellow and red cedar Haida hat. Daajang won 2nd place for traditional art in the 2004 Sealaska Juried Art Show. The hat is unusual because part of its design was derived from a newly re-learned technique discovered on a 550-year-old hat. The hat was unearthed in 1999 with the "Long Ago Person Found" on the edge of a receding glacier in Tatshenshini-Alsek Park. The human remains, named Kwaday Dan Ts’inchi, were preserved in the ice, along with the hat, a squirrel-skin robe and a partial tool kit. Sponsored by Sealaska Heritage Institute, renowned Haida weaver Delores Churchill traveled to the Interior to examine and ‘reconstruct’ the woven textiles associated with the find and learned the ‘6 strand ending’ technique. She has since taught the technique to many other weavers, including artist Della Cheney, who incorporated it into Daajang.

Photo Gallery. By Della Cheney. $2,000 (#1189)
Video of the 2004 Juried Art Show and Competition awards ceremony, where Della accepted 2nd place for Daajang: Windows Media or RealPlayer