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California Indian Basketry: evolution from
past to present By: Lisa Nguyen, Joanne You, Alvin Laksana, and Clayton
Su.
History and cultural significance of Native
Basketry
What it meant to Natives then:
• A necessity for survival– Basketry was used in a wide variety of
shapes and were adapted to special uses
What it meant to Natives then
• Baskets were used as “nets” for beach fishing– This was very vital
because fishing was the primary source of food for the Natives
What it meant to Natives then
• Water jugs – Traditional jugs
were lightweight, unbreakable,and easy to carry
What it meant to Natives then
• made mostly for everyday uses – burden basket– Bowls– Trays– Mush-cooking
baskets– acorn-storage
baskets– Seedbeater
Uses of California Native Basketry
• Seedbeater
• Mortar and Pestle
Uses of California Native Basketry
• Cooking basket
• Fancy gift basket
What it meant to Natives then
• Basketry was also used as clothing – Hats– Shoes
Hats and Shoes
What it meant to Natives then
• Besides being a necessity for survival,– Baskets were a powerful symbol of
culture and spirituality – They believed in a scared relationship
between nature and humans• Basketry was the factor connecting the
relationship
What it meant to Natives then
• The Culture of Basketry – Certain practices must be observes
before plants can be gathered for making baskets • Coins, acorns, tobacco, or herbs are either
places on the ground – Or burned to help carry prayers up to the
heavens
What it meant to Natives then
• When picking plants, the basket weaver tells the plant what purpose they will serve – The Natives have a deep understanding:
• The plants are the masters, they have been there the longest
What it means to Natives Today:
• a necessity for cultural revival– the art of basket weaving is not what it
once was• Factors that affect this is:
– Land development – Pesticide – Politics
What it means to Natives Today
• Basketry is important in the revival of the culture – It is a custom that has been passed on
from generation to generation • That has served a as practical utility and as
a religious connection with nature
What it means to Natives Today
• As younger generations become less interested in the basketry – traditional
knowledge and practices threaten to be lost
What it means to Natives Today
• With the lost of traditional basketry, – There is also a lost
of respect for the sacred relationship between nature and people
The cultural issues brought up
• In the past, baskets were made primarily for utility and versatility– Few were made for ceremonial purposes.
The cultural issues brought up
• Now, because of modern technology and the existence of better storage solutions, – the primary reason
for the making of baskets is symbolism or ceremony
Elsie Comanche Allen
Pomo Master Basket Weaver(1899-1990)
Elsie Allen Biography Part I
• Born Elsie Comanche to George and Annie Comanche, on September 22, 1899 near Santa Rosa, California.
• As a young child Elsie lived an isolated area with her grandmother, Nellie Burke, near the village of Cloverdale, speaking only the Pomo language.
• In 1910, Elsie began her formal education at the Indian boarding school in Covelo, located in northern Mendocino County, a full 80 miles away from home.
• Being so far from home, and speaking only Pomo at the all-English school, was a difficult transition for her.
• Elsie did poorly at school and returned home after a year at the boarding school in Covelo because she began feeling like an outcast and was being forced to perform seemingly meaningless activities.
Elsie Allen Biography Part II
• At age 13, Elsie began attending a new government Indian school near her home in Hopland. – It was during this time that she was able to learn
English and continue her education while working in the fields to supplement the family income.
• At the age of 16, Elsie sought greater opportunities than she had as a farm laborer. – It was during that time that a Catholic priest in
Ukiah helped Elsie to secure a position as a domestic in San Francisco.
• In 1919 Elsie married a northern Pomo named Arthur Allen.
Elsie Allen Biography Part III
• Between 1920 and 1928 they Elsie and Arthur had four children: Genevieve, Leonard, Dorothy, and George. Elsie continued to work in the fields while raising her family.
• At the age of 62, Allen was finally able to devote more time to her basket making. – She began to teach the art at
California's Mendocino Art Center - to Indians and non-Indians alike. She was resolute in her belief that this art and its associated traditions not be lost to antiquity.
Elsie Allen Biography Part IV
• 1972- Wrote Pomo Basket Making: A Supreme Art for the Weaver – Recounts her life story and documents in
detailed pictures and print the fine art of Pomo basket making. Some observers have suggested that Allen's most notable contribution was rescuing the art of Pomo basket making from oblivion. Her baskets are on display in both public and private collections around the world.
• At the age of 91, Elsie Comanche Allen died on the 31st of December, 1990.
Why Elsie Became a Basket Weaver Part I
• When her grandmother passed away in 1924, Allen lost an important link to her people's past. Since it was traditional for a woman's baskets and materials to be buried with her, Allen was left with few weaving examples to follow after her grandmother's death.
Why Elsie Became a Basket Weaver Part II
• Allen's mother, Annie, continued the family custom. Allen had watched both her mother and grandmother make baskets while she was a child and began gathering and preparing materials for weaving when she was older. Her mother had actively pursued the craft of basket making, displaying her works at fairs and promoting the art in the California
Impact on Society I• Elsie maintained the tradition of female
influence within the Pomo nation. • A female chief exercised authority over
women's issues and concerns and Elsie contributed to this tradition by maintaining her membership on the Pomo and Hintil women's clubs
• Elsie worked for her people by promoting education, cultural preservation, and Indian rights in the community.
• Elsie's community regarded her as a cultural scholar, and she became known as "Pomo Sage," acquiring an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree.
Impact on Society II
• From 1979 to 1981 Elsie Allen was associated with the Native American Advisory Council, one of her most notable achievements.
• Through this she participated in the Sonoma State University's Warm Springs Cultural Resources Study, a cultural and historical record of the Makahmo and Mahilakawna (Dry Creek/West Creek) Pomo.
• While Elsie was still on the Native American Advisory Council, the Native American Advisory Council formed a partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the Warm Springs Dam-Lake Sonoma Project.
Impact on Society III• The proposed dam and lake, intended to
provide flood control, fresh water, and recreational facilities in the Russian River area, carried with it the potential to destroy indigenous plants that native peoples valued for medicinal, economic, ceremonial, and artistic uses.
• As a member of the council, Allen contributed to an ethno-botanical mitigation study – an examination of the plant lore of the Pomo tribe
and the impact of environmental changes on the area and its people
– was instrumental in organizing a large scale relocation of endangered plants.
"Basket weaving needs dedication and interest and increasing skill and knowledge; it needs feeling and love and honor for the great weavers of the past who showed us the way. If you can rouse in yourself this interest, feeling and dedication, you also can create matchless beauty and help me renew something that should never be lost."
~Elsie Comanche Allen
Tradition: A Double Edged Sword
• When Elsie’s mother Annie’s health began to decline, Annie adamantly insisted that her baskets not be buried with her, so that they might be enjoyed and studied by future generations. – Elsie Allen met with much resistance
from her relatives and other members of the Pomo nation over this issue, but she respected her mother's dying wish - and she promised her mother that she, too, would carry on the tradition
• By not following the tradition of burying or burning the possessions of the deceased, Elsie discontinued a tradition which had been followed for many generations. – In discontinuing one tradition, she was
able carry on another.• Was this the right choice? What would
you have done?
Dissapointment • In her book (1972), Elsie expresses
disappointment at the results of her attempts to teach the art and craft, although her basketry classes were well-attended by white women. This, and growing attention from universities actually helped to create a more positive climate for California Indian people.
• But it still disappointed her that people of her own culture were not as enthusiastic about the tradition; in comparison to the white women who attended her class, there were very few Pomo.
A Successor
• Elsie found a true apprentice to study the art with her, and to carry it on, and to teach others. This photo shows Elsie at her home in 1980, with her grand-niece, Susie Billy holding the start of a basket at the right.
California Indian Basketweavers’
AssociationResources: Gathering
Materials and How CIBA Helps
What is CIBA?• California based
organization dedicated to preserve, promote, and perpetuate California Indian basketweaving traditions
• Working to create a functioning network of basketweavers who support one another in their gathering and weaving activities, and who pass their tradition to the next generation
How CIBA Accomplishes its Goals
• Promoting and providing ways to showcase work• Increasing access to gathering resources• Providing education • Monitoring land use, protecting and conserving
traditional Native resources
Types of Resources
• Plantlife– Bushes– Roots– Branches– Seed pods– From cattails to
willows to sedge roots
• After harvested, plants are aged so they remain straight
Examples of Plants Used for Basketry
• Willows• California Hazel• Redbud• Sedges• Bear Grass• Pines
– Willows and redbud also used as dyes in contrasting colors for baskets (white and red)
Gathering• Plant materials must be
gathered at the right time of the year
• Requires travel of long distance to where the plants go
• Dig roots, cut shoots, branches, canes, seed pods
• It takes as long or longer to gather and prepare materials for a traditional basket as to make it
More Gathering
• Basketmakers must learn from older women– where the plants grow – how to identify them– what parts to take and when to take them– how to prepare them
Resources are Scarce• Few tribes have a sufficient land base to gather materials• Basket weavers often rely on public lands to meet their needs• Public and private land managers engage in or allow practices
that can degrade or destroy basketry resources and gathering sites
• Herbicides are used to control "undesirable" plants, destroying or contaminating fish, wildlife and other plants
• Regulations and policies that limit access to public lands and traditional resources
CIBA’s Resource Protection Program
• Strives to halt the use of pesticides on public and private wildlands
• Promote alternative, less harmful resource management practices
• Seek to improve and enhance safe, convenient access to gathering areas and cultural sites
• Educate policy makers and land managers about traditional Native natural resource management practices
CIBA’s Basketweaver Support Program
• Seeks to provide conditions necessary for basketweaving traditions to thrive again
• Bring basketweavers together at annual gatherings, and in communities, to teach, learn, support and inspire each other
• Additional income-earning opportunities for basketweavers provided through California and western regional basketweaver resource directories
44 Clayton Su
Pesticides, Pollution,Policies and Rights
45Clayton Su
Pesticides
• Highly used in California
• Pros?• Cons?
46 Clayton Su
Pesticides and the Earth• Pollution to
watersheds and groundwater
• Kills native plants
• Deforms non-targeted plants
Plants that have experienced deformities due to pesticides (curled leaves, stunted stems, and irregular leaf growth).
47 Clayton Su
Pesticides and Animals
• Health risks to animals• Unbalanced
ecosystems• Elimination of
food sources
48 Clayton Su
Pesticides and Humans
• Acute poisoning• Fertility
problems• Cancers• Altered body
function• Death
49 Clayton Su
How Do Pesticides AffectBasket Weavers?
• Gathering and basket weaving techniques
• Health risks• CIBA’s
policies on theuse of pesticides
50Clayton Su
California Indian Policies
• Original gathering sites owned by Federal Government
• Current Federal Gathering Policy
• Why?
51 Clayton Su
What Can/Is Being Done?
• California branches of the USFS and BLM policies
• Informing other tribes
• Opposition to current policy and reworking of policy
Bibliography
• http://www.ciba.org• http://www.kstrom.net/isk/art/basket
/baskmenu.html• http://www.californiabaskets.com• http://www.cdpr.ca.gov/• http://pesticidereform.org/search.ph
p• Fleming, Robert. Natural World of
the California Indians. (1983)