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Activities: Context Activities Native Weavers and the Art of Basketry  Back to Context Activities
He breathed on her and gave her something that she could not see or hear or smell or touch, and it was preserved in a little basket, and by all of the arts of design and skilled handwork.Basketry, like pottery, is an art that is found in numerous Native American cultures but differs greatly from tribe to tribe. As Mary Dodge Schlick, the author of Columbia River Basketry: Gift of the Ancestors, Gift of the Earth, points out, for centuries baskets have been part of vast trade networks in which friends and acquaintances meet, gamble, and trade food stuffs and goods: baskets are one way of carrying these valuables. Baskets also play important roles in spiritual and medicinal rituals, as attested to in Greg Sarris's work on Pomo basket weaver and healer Mabel McKay. McKay wove her baskets for collectors and for general consumption, and all were made under the guidance of a spirit who taught her healing songs and imbued her baskets with a spiritual power. Baskets like the Pomo feather baskets featured in the archive [6303, 8118, 8119] should be thought of as spiritual, as well as material, objects. As archaeologist A. L. Kroeber and many others have noted, Pomo baskets are among the finest in the world. He writes, "To the Pomo, these served as gifts and treasures, and above all, they were destroyed in honor of the dead." The Pomo live in Northern California and are known for the intricacy of their baskets, particularly their beaded baskets, feather baskets, and miniature baskets [6303]. Sometimes the baskets held medicines, but other times nothing at all; as Susan Billy, a Pomo basket weaver, explains, "People frequently ask me what these ceremonial baskets hold. They did not have to hold anything, because the basket itself was all that was needed. The basket contained the prayers and the wonderful, good energy that made it a ceremonial basket." Gift baskets were given to people of stature or people with whom one wanted to cement a relationship [8081, 8119]. Small gift baskets were sometimes worn. Other Native American communities, including the Nez Perce of Oregon and Washington, also wore baskets. Baskets hats, such as the one in the archive [8118], play a part in the oral tradition of the Columbia River peoples. For example, in one Wishxam myth, Grandmother uses a basket hat to teach Little Raccoon about the consequences of misbehavior. In many Native American communities, baskets play an important role in women's culture. Knowledge of how to make a basket hat, among other skills, was a sign that a young woman had reached adulthood in Columbia River culture. Women still wear these hats at powwows and other ceremonies. Questions
[6303] Anonymous, Pomo feather gift basket (n.d.), courtesy of the Douglas F. Cooley Memorial Art Gallery, Reed College. The series of quill stitches in this coiled Pomo basket indicates the weaver's desire to continue her work during a menstrual period, which would be bad luck if she did not substitute bird quills for plant materials. [6307] Anonymous, Water jar, pitched with horsehair lug handles (n.d.), courtesy of the Douglas F. Cooley Memorial Art Gallery, Reed College. Basketry objects found on the North American continent have been dated to as far back as 9000 b.c. [6310] Anonymous, Coiled basket tray, rattlesnake design (n.d.), courtesy of Reed College, Douglas F. Cooley Memorial Art Gallery. Like pottery, basketry is important for storing and transferring food and other supplies. [7416] Anonymous, Tray, Apache, San Carlos, Arizona (n.d.), courtesy of the New York State Historical Association, Thaw Collection. Beginning in the late 1800s, many Native Americans used the American flag as a decorative motif in their arts and crafts. Notice the crossed flags in the design of this Apache basket. [8081] Pomo tribe, Gift basket (c.1930), courtesy of the Portland Art Museum, Elizabeth Cole Butler Collection. The Pomo are a coastal native group in Sonoma County, California. The basket is made of willow, sedge root, clam shell beads, abalone shell, meadowlark feathers, quail feathers, mallard duck feathers, flicker feathers, and dogbane. Pomo baskets are known for their spiritual, ceremonial, and healing properties. [8118] Plateau Indians, Basketry hat (c. 1900), courtesy of the Portland Art Museum, Elizabeth Cole Butler Collection. Nimíipuu (Nez Perce) women wore fez-shaped basket hats as part of their everyday clothing. This hat is made from vegetal fiber, wool yarn, and a leather fringe. The Nez Perce were one of the tribes encountered by Lewis and Clark during their search for the Northwest Passage. [8202] Yokut, Basket (c. 1900), courtesy of the Portland Art Museum, gift of Elizabeth Cole Butler. Yokut Indian women (Central California) learned to weave at an early age. Baskets were indispensable to Yokut daily life. Yokut baskets are known for their ornate designs, including human figures and animals. This basket is made of sedge root, red bud, bracken fern root, grass, and quail feathers. |
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