Edith Clayton
{{for|the American jurist|Edith S. Sampson}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Edith Clayton
| birth_name = Edith Drummond
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1920|09|06}}
| birth_place = Lake Loon, Cherry Brook, Nova Scotia
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1989|10|08|1920|09|06}}
| occupation = Basket maker
| parents = James Alexander Drummond, Selena Irene Sparks
}}
Edith Clayton, née Drummond (September 6, 1920–October 8, 1989) was a Canadian basket maker.
Life and work
The daughter of James Alexander Drummond and Selena Irene Sparks,{{cite web |url=https://ojs.library.dal.ca/NSM/article/download/4236/3869 |title=Baskets of Black Nova Scotians |publisher=Dalhousie University Library}} who were descendants of Black Loyalists who left the United States in 1812-14, she was born Edith Drummond in Lake Loon, Cherry Brook, Nova Scotia.
The basket weaving technique that she used originated in Africa and was passed along from mother to daughter over six generations. The technique learned from her mother, incorporated African and British styles.{{Cite book |last=Cronin |first=Ray |url=https://www.aci-iac.ca/art-books/halifax-art-and-artists/ |title=Halifax Art & Artists: An Illustrated History |publisher=Art Canada Institute |year=2023 |isbn=978-1-4871-0315-6 |location=Toronto}} Clayton used natural dyes obtained from Mi'kmaq women.
She showed and sold her baskets at craft fairs across Canada and exhibited at Expo 86.{{cite web|title=Clayton, Edith|url=http://cwahi.concordia.ca/sources/artists/displayArtist.php?ID_artist=5699|work=Canadian Women Artists History Initiative}} In 1977, Clayton was awarded a Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal.
Outside of the family, Clayton taught evening classes in basket weaving in Dartmouth for the Department of Continuing Education.
She died in East Preston at the age of 69.
Her daughters Althea Tolliver, Pam Drummond Wall and Clara Clayton-Gough continue the family tradition of basket weaving.{{cite web |url=http://www.bccnsweb.com/web/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Posters-ANS.pdf |title=Our History Our Heroes |publisher=Black Cultural Centre of Nova Scotia}}
Legacy
Clayton appeared in Sylvia Hamilton's film Black Mother, Black Daughter.{{cite web |url=http://nsbg.chebucto.org/Drummond.pdf |title=Edith Drummond Clayton |publisher=Nova Scotia Basketry Guild}} Scholar Peggy Bristow (in a volume edited by Hamilton) Clayton's impact as "passing on a significant and uniquely African-Nova Scotian aspect of the province's heritage."{{cite book|last1=BRISTOW|first1=PEGGY|title=We're rooted here and they can't pull us up|publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn=9780802068811|pages=13–40|jstor=9781442683273|chapter=Naming Names, Naming Ourselves:: A Survey of Early Black Women in Nova Scotia}}
Further reading
- Edith Clayton's Market Basket: A Heritage of Splintwood Basketry in Nova Scotia{{Cite book|title=Edith Clayton's Market Basket: A Heritage of Splintwood Basketry in Nova Scotia|last=Joleen|first=Gordon|publisher=Nova Scotia Museum|year=|isbn=|pages=}}
References
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Category:Canadian basket weavers
Category:People from the Halifax Regional Municipality