tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-166906912023-11-15T09:31:16.532-08:00History of Cherokee Basket WeavingCherokee Basketweavers and why we weaveCherokee Basketshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14370474388373212376noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16690691.post-46654399223699221992008-07-05T12:22:00.000-07:002008-07-05T13:54:01.112-07:00Basket Revival and RevitalizationThe resurgence in Cherokee Basketry continued in the first few decades of the twentieth century, and the basket makers in North Carolina seized the moment to produce and market their creations...<br /><br />In contrast to other art processes, basketry of this period shows clear continuity with historic precedents in white oak and rivercane techniques, traditional choice and use of dyes, and a continuing presence of the double-weave technique, characteristic of the eastern Cherokee.<br /><br />Lottie Queen Stamper taught basket making full-time at the Cherokee boarding school from 1937 until her retirement in 1966 and was a significant influence in the revival of contemporary eastern Cherokee basketry in cane and oak splints (see figure 36). She set high standards in her own work and challenged other basket makers to strive for such aesthetic levels as well. Her students included her niece Eva Wolfe, Carol and Agnes Welch, Nancy Conseen, and Rowena Bradley, all of whom established strong careers as basket weavers in later years.<br /><br />...During the 1940s, Lottie Stamper became a singular force in sparking an interest in the revival of the almost lost art of the double weave technique of river cane basketry...<br /><br />On of her most famous creations, <em>Basket with Lid</em> (figure 37) is based on the Sloane Basket, British Museum, London (see figure 9). The eighteenth-century basket is one of the oldest surviving examples of Cherokee double-weave basketry. Stamper replicated the basket's shape and pattern by studying a photostatic copy of the original. (QAC 1987, iii).<br /><br />Stamper's niece and student Eva Wolfe became one of the most widely renowned basket makers in the United States. She was born July 24, 1922, in the Soco community of the Qualla Boundary, North Carolina. (Eva has since passed on) Like many other Cherokee women, she first learned the art of the basketry from her mother and later studied the technique further in a weaving class sponsored by the Bureau of Indian Affairs School on the Qualla Boundary (see also her remarks in the epigraph to this chapter).<br /><br />Later, Wofe refined her knowledge of the difficult technique when she worked with Stamper. Wolfe revived patterns of Historic twill-woven double-weave basketry, bringing the technique and designs to a new level of technical and aesthetic achievement (see figure 38). She received many awards for her basketry, including a first prize for a double-weave basket exhibited in 1968 at the U.S. Department of the Interior in Washington, D.C. (Qac 1987, 2). In the 1977 the National Endowment for the Arts awarded Eva a craftperson's fellowship grant to create an exhibition, later shown in the Smithsonian's Renwick Gallery (Mails 1996, 251). Twill-woven double-weave rivercane baskets represent the oldest Cherokee basket tradition.<br /><br />Nancy Bradley,...is legendary in the field of basket making, specializing in the challenging double-weave rivercane technique, although she worked in white oak, honeysuckle, and even bamboo at times. As early as 1915, Nancy Bradley was an accomplished weaver of cane, and, according to her daughter Rowena, she continued to weave until shortly before her death in 1963.<br /><br />One of Nancy Bradley's most outstanding examples, <em>Burden Basket</em> (figure 39), made in 1941, features natural and dyed rivercane in a square-to-round form with a beautifully configured swastika symbol repeated on each of the four sides. ...<br /><br />Nancy Bradley's mastery of the material is evident in the smooth transition from the squared bottom of the basket to the round top, giving <em>Burden Basket</em> an elegant form. The circular rim is accented by a dark brown chain patter, which contrasts with the golden color of the natural cane. Such skillful manipulation of color, emphasized through visual contrast, adds further to the beauty of the surface design.<br /><br /><em>Burden Basket</em> was one of the eight Bradley rivercane baskets collected by Clark Field in 1941...<br /><br />Traditionally, burden baskets were woven of durable cane or oak splints for carrying heavy items such as food harvests. They were worn on the back, secured by a tumpline around the chest. When Burden Basket is compared to other plain, unadorned, more utilitarian baskets of the type, however, it is apparent that Bradley's basket was intended not for such heavy labor, but for a more formal purpose or perhaps as a object to be collected by a patron. We certainly admire Burden Basket as one of the most artistically superior examples of Cherokee basketry in general and of the double-weave style in particular. Without question, Nancy Bradley was an accomplished artist by all standards. <em>(this basket is actually a twill-plaited weave, rather than the traditional double-weave)</em><br /><br /><br />Except taken from: Art of the Cherokee by Susan Power; for a copy of this book: <a href="http://www.bookfinder4u.com/IsbnSearch.aspx?isbn=0820327670&mode=direct">http://www.bookfinder4u.com/IsbnSearch.aspx?isbn=0820327670&mode=direct</a><div class="blogger-post-footer">Cherokee Basket weavers and why they weave</div>Cherokee Basketshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14370474388373212376noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16690691.post-6140725807714199152008-07-03T09:46:00.000-07:002008-07-03T11:02:08.396-07:0019th Century Basketspage 109: When European immigrants moved into the southern Appalachians, they brought white-oak containers and the expertise to make them. Using metal tools, they constructed cabins, furniture, and a wide range of functional objects for household use; made toys for their children; and carved musical instruments. they especially favored the plentiful oaks for making splint baskets, which were not among the basket forms made by the Cherokee at that time. Ever resourceful, however, Cherokee basket weavers added the oak material and the splint basket form to their repertoire, expanding once again their creative options.<br /><br />After the Removal, the Cherokee, Creek, and Choctaw continued to make baskets in Indian Territory, each group developing its own unique style, yet all recalling the historical roots of the southern tradition.<br /><br />Cherokee weavers in Oklahoma found different plant life. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">buckbrush</span></span>, for example, with its long, liable runners suitable for weaving made an excellent basket-making material. The western Cherokee developed their own unique style of basket weaving based on both tradition and innovation, with strong, functional designs.<br /><br />For the Cherokee in the nineteenth century, the basket tradition remained strong. Cane continued to be the primary material used in making Cherokee baskets during the first half of the century, as oak splints were added to the repertoire. Toward the end of the century, honeysuckle, a Japanese plant, was introduced in the South, and eastern Cherokee basket makers adopted it as a material, adding it to the similar indigenous variety that grew in the area.<br /><br />Both eastern and western basket weavers used the double-weave technique, although each group had unique characteristics.... The double-weave technique of weaving baskets features an outside basket joined by a seamless edge to a separately woven inner basket, called the "return." The double weave permits a variety of innovative design combinations, from varying the width of splints and controlling the placement of color to creating strikingly different patterns between the exterior and interior woven layers.<br /><br />Cherokee basket makers were masters of color and design, expertly using a wide range of natural resources. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Bloodroot</span></span>, a favored natural dye source, was used extensively. Found along the banks of streams and near running water, it can be recognized by the single white flower that blooms in the early spring. Walnut was used frequently to provide contrast to the red <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">bloodroot</span></span> dye (<a href="http://cherokeenaturaldyes.blogspot.com/"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">bloodroot</span></span> alone produces an orange color; only when you add mordants does it turn to a red/orange color; see Cherokee Natural Dyes</a>) and to the cane's natural soft golden color. In the late 1880s commercial aniline dyes became popular, although the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">nonnatural</span></span> dyes were never fully accepted by collectors and buyers.<br /><br />Although <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">rivercane</span></span> is very difficult to process and weave, it nonetheless remained a favored material where it was available. The weaver can create a range of geometric designs by varying the width and combinations of warp and weft; other advantages are the cane's shiny gloss and excellent dyeing properties. (you can tell Hamburg dyed and made double weaves by it's none glossy look - the outside shell of the cane is removed, so that it will accept dye better) Two weaving techniques predominate; <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">checkerwork</span></span>, used from prehistoric to contemporary times, featuring the warp and weft woven at right angles; and the double-weave twill technique, the most difficult to create, featuring diagonal patterns formed by the positioning of the warp and weft. A strong sense of color and design, particularly in the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">rivercane</span></span> basketry, is a dominant feature of southeastern Indian basketry.<br /><br />The Cherokee and other southeastern groups made and used various types of baskets for sacred and secular purposes. Where traditional basket making has persisted, the tray-like forms associated with food processing usually dominate the basket makers' production (<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Gettys</span></span> 2001, 175). New types of baskets were made in elaborate form and pattern. Especially of interest artistically are the lidded examples using dyed <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">rivercane</span></span>.<br /><br />The Cherokee <em>Polychrome Basket with Lid</em> (figure 29) is a rare <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">pre</span></span>-1843 double weave container made of durable <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">rivercane</span></span>; both its <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">antiquity</span> and artistic merits set it apart among those extant. The weaver skillfully created one of the most artistically significant polychrome twill-plaited baskets known to exist from the years immediately following the Trail of Tears Removal period (1838-1839_ when most North <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">Carolina</span> Cherokee were forcibly removed west to Indian Territory. The basket's double-weave construction is one of the most challenging weaves to create, and this basket verifies the considerable skill possessed by Cherokee weavers. The earliest known depiction of a similar type basket appears in the 1682 painting titled <em>Les <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">Tresors</span></span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">de</span></span> l"<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">Amerique</span></span></em> (figure 2).<br /><br />Both the lid and the body of the basket are formed with two separate, woven layers of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">rivercane</span></span> strips, each with a unique design. While the lid's interior pattern is quite similar to its exterior one, the body of the basket is even more exceptional for having two totally different designs created for the inside and outside surfaces of the separate layers. The interior features a bold horizontal pattern, composed of the same dark brown, red, and golden yellow colors, yet <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">dramatically</span> set apart in its unique configuration. The complex double-walled structure, the challenging design solutions, and the highly refined shape suggest this basket was woven by one of the most skilled Cherokee basket makers of the time. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20">The lid's</span> unusual inward-slanting sides, surrounding and enclosing the concave surface of the top, give it an elegant, <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21">graceful</span> profile unmatched by other examples.<br /><br />This basket compares with two other very rare Cherokee lidded and dyed <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">rivercane</span></span> baskets of the eighteenth century: the first (figure 9), in the Sloane Collection of the British Museum, London; the second from the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_23"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">Historiska</span></span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_24"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">Museet</span></span>, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_25"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">Lund</span></span>, Sweden. Such expertly made baskets were valued objects, reserved for special use. Their refined form, size, and beauty suggest they were used to hold treasured personal items, exchanged in trade, or given to an official or dignitary in the region. Some such baskets were prized gifts that ended up in private and museum collections in Europe and the United States. Due to the antiquity and exceptional artistic merits, <em>Polychrome Basket with Lid</em> is one of the most important dyed <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_26"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20">rivercane</span></span> lidded baskets made by the Cherokee.<br /><br /><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_27">After</span> the 1840s, basket makers continued weaving baskets for many of their own needs and making others to sell or trade to non-<span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_28">Indians</span>. Traditional form and <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_29">function</span> merged with new basket designs and uses. The need for ceremonial baskets of the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_30"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21">preremoval</span></span> period diminished. In fact, as Sarah Hill (1997) explains, "O<span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_31">f</span> the three functions of baskets seen prior to the <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_32">nineteenth</span> century - utilitarian, trade, and ceremonial - only two remained visible after 1838, testifying eloquently to deep levels of cultural dislocation" (151). After the Removal, the economic significance of baskets became even more important to families; both men and women created and sold baskets to support their families in the new and different <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_33">economy</span>.<br /><br />Dislocated Cherokee submitted spoliation claims requesting compensation for their losses during the Removal. The <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22">claim</span> of John <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_23">Vann</span> ...dated 1838...listed two spinning wheels, furniture, tools, livestock, and other belongings, including thirty gourds, a half-pound of indigo, and six bunches (several strands tied together) of beads in assorted colors. ... Such inventories also <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_24">support</span> the theory that white-oak basketry became an important form of eastern Cherokee weaving after the Removal.<br /><br />Except taken from: Art of the Cherokee by Susan Power; for a copy of this book: <a href="http://www.bookfinder4u.com/IsbnSearch.aspx?isbn=0820327670&mode=direct">http://www.bookfinder4u.com/IsbnSearch.aspx?isbn=0820327670&mode=direct</a><div class="blogger-post-footer">Cherokee Basket weavers and why they weave</div>Cherokee Basketshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14370474388373212376noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16690691.post-1871868366246384152008-07-02T12:35:00.000-07:002008-07-02T12:52:52.578-07:00Cherokee Rootrunner Baskets - 1783page 86:<em> Rootrunner</em><em> Basket</em> (figure 17) was woven by Margaret "Peggy" Scott Vann (1783-1820), James Vann's third wife, whose mother was Cherokee. <em>Rootrunner Basket</em> is the earliest known example of a Cherokee basket made of rootrunner. It departs from Cherokee basket-weaving tradition in the use of the coiled vine material and it's non traditional form with a handle and fitted lid. This basket, one of only two rootrunner baskets from Spring Place, is round and fragile, as compared to the sturdy square and rectangular rivercane and white-oak examples made by other Cherokee weavers. Two other known baskets from the mission are the traditional double-weave rivercane technique.<br /><br />Rootrunner Basket features vine woven around a sturdier frame than the earlier twill and plaited rivercane baskets in the region. This technique is comparable to that used for the honeysuckle baskets that would become popular later in the century. Like most utilitarian or domestic baskets, Rootrunner Basket features no dyed pattern, its decorative quality resting solely in its aesthetically pleasing round shape and gracefully formed handle.<br /><br />The delicate, lightweight nature of the two mission rootrunner baskets suggests their intended purpose was not for heavy domestic use, but rather a more decorative and less rigorous existence, perhaps to hold valuables or simply to be admired as a luxury object resting in a special place. The differences in form and function imply that Cherokee basketry was evolving from a primarily utilitarian role to roles that met the demands of new audiences. The baskets clearly reveal the interaction of tow cultures - the Cherokee and Euro-Americans - and are unquestionable evidence of Cherokee basket weavers' skill in both keeping tradition alive and responding to contemporary currents.<br /><br />Cherokee weavers experimented with various types of vine, reed, willow and other media. Some nineteenth-century baskets are incorrectly identified as being made of honeysuckle, but the Japanese plant was not available to Cherokee women until the 1890s and only became popular as a weaving material in the twentieth century. Furthermore, the vine used in these baskets is smooth all over, whereas honeysuckle vine has characteristic "knots."<br /><br />Some basket designs may have been widely known and shared, while others perhaps belonged to a particular settlement, family, clan, or weaver, or may have signified certain customs, concepts, events, stories, or status )S. Hill 1997, 101). Through historic turmoil and social change, Cherokee basket weavers added new forms, materials, and patterns to the established repertoire. As a result, the Cherokee basketry tradition evolved to include both successful precedents and fresh innovations. Pottery, however, came closer to extinction than did basketry. That said, early nineteenth-century Moravian missionaries purchased ceramic vessels from Native American women in the area, suggesting new markets were possible for a declining craft.<br /><br />Except taken from: Art of the Cherokee by Susan Power; for a copy of this book: <a href="http://www.bookfinder4u.com/IsbnSearch.aspx?isbn=0820327670&mode=direct">http://www.bookfinder4u.com/IsbnSearch.aspx?isbn=0820327670&mode=direct</a><div class="blogger-post-footer">Cherokee Basket weavers and why they weave</div>Cherokee Basketshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14370474388373212376noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16690691.post-51363746399537818482008-07-02T11:20:00.000-07:002008-07-03T11:03:54.073-07:00River Cane usage among the Cherokeepage 50: John R. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Swanton</span> (1946) considered cane to be one of the most important of all raw materials in the Southeast. Two types were commonly used in the region: <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Aruninaria</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">gigantean</span> (Commonly called River Cane) and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Arundinaria</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">tecta</span> (commonly called Switch Cane), (244). Archaeological evidence in the from of negative impressions in the soil reveals the considerable antiquity of its use (Sears 1956, 29). The Cherokee constructed a wife range of functional objects including woven mats, baskets, and quivers from durable, lightweight cane...<br /><br />page 55: The Cherokee war chief wore red painted eagle feathers (one stripe for each enemy he had killed) stuck into two-inch-long pieces of cane fastened to his scalp lock (Lewis and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Kneberg</span> 1954, 15). "[W]hen an eagle was killed and its feathers taken for use in rituals," Charles Hudson (1976) notes, "the feathers had to be kept wrapped in a deerskin and placed in a small, round feather house, built especially for this purpose, on the edge of the dance ground" (168).<br /><br />The Cherokee also used natural fiber to weave baskets and mats. Cane mats, typically made in the twill weave, were used on benches i homes and in council house, for wrapping the deceased in burial, and for other purposes. Southeastern mats were about four to five feet wide and about six to eight feet long (Lewis and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Kneberg</span> 1954, 41). Artists dyed cane mats and baskets by immersing and simmering cane strips in various types of dye. Dyes were created from roots, berries, bark, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">ashe</span>, and other natural materials, depending on the color desired.<br /><br />page 56: Powhatan, powerful chief of the Powhatan Confederacy of Algonquian Indians in the Chesapeake Bay area, received a delegation of Englishmen early in the seventeenth century while sitting on a bed covered with mats. He was wearing a deerskin robe, and at his elbow was a leather-covered pillow ornamented with pearls and "white" (perhaps shell) beads. Young women sat at this head and feet, and long each side of the house sat another twenty of his wives. Each of these women had her head and shoulders painted red and wore a necklace of "white" beads (Tyler 1907, 134. More than 150 years later, in his 1775 journey to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Cowee</span> (North Carolina), William Bartram saw town house "<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">sophas</span>...covered with mats or carpets, very curiously made of thin splints of Ash or Oak, woven or platted [sic] together" (Bartram 1789/1995, 85)<br /><br /><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">Rivercane</span> was used for making baskets from at least as early as the Woodland period to the present. Cherokee mythology offers an in-depth history of these important items. The Cherokee tell of a basket made by <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">Kanane</span>-ski <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">Amai</span>-<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">yehi</span>, or spider-Dwelling-in-the-Water, a creature resembling a water boatman, to capture the first fire. She, like the water boatman, crossed boundaries between land and water and wove the material that Cherokee women associated with carrying water as well as many other daily uses (King 1999, 94-95). Because the Water Spider, like many anomalous beings could live in water and on land, ti was considered to possess exceptional powers. Cherokee baskets are also linked to women in the figure of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">Selu</span>, The Corn Mother, who held a basket to catch the corn and beans that issued from her body, as described in "<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">Kanatie</span> and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">Selu</span>: The Origin of Game and Corn.".<br /><br />Although baskets were used in many colonial households, only two early eighteenth century lidded baskets are known in museum collections. One is in the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">Historiska</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">Museet</span>, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">Lund</span>, Sweden, where it was previously attributed incorrectly to the Chinese; it was recently identified as being from the Southeast and probably of Cherokee origin. The other, better-known example is in the Sloane Collection of the British Museum, London, as mentioned previously. Only rare examples of eighteenth-century baskets are known to exist outside museums.<br /><br />Known as <em><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20">Doubleweave</span> Lidded Basket</em> (figure 9) the Sloane basket, brought to London in 1725, is the earliest known Historic Cherokee basket of its type. Constructed using the twilled, double-weave technique, the basket is 19.7 inches (50 cm.) long. However, differences between the designs in the lid and those in the bottom suggest the lid actually may be an upside-down tray. Twentieth-century Cherokee basket weaver Lottie Stamper named the top design "The Casket" (i.e., coffin) and the bottom "The Pine Tree" (J.C.H. King 1999, 94-95). Both parts are comprised of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21">rivercane</span> strips, some natural color, other dyed dark brown and still others red-brown.<br /><br />Hampton Rowland Jr., (1989) suggests the first thing to understand about cane in the Southeast is its abundance: "Benjamin Hawkins made a survey of most of the Indian villages in Georgia and west Alabama in 1799 and he remarked on cane being readily available in over half the locations" (27). Ultimately, most large cane brakes disappeared, and the important basket-weaving material became rare. "By the late 1700s, river cane, used as fodder for horses, cattle, and hogs, had become very scarce" (<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22">Drooker</span> 1998a, 106)<br /><br />Adair (1930) described the complex design of and high regard for Cherokee baskets: They make the handsomest clothes baskets...I ever saw, considering their materials. They divide large swamp canes, into long, thin narrow splinters, which they dye of several colours, and manage the workmanship so well, that both the inside and outside are covered with a beautiful variety of pleasing figures; and though for the space of two inches below the upper edge of each basket, it is worked into one, through the other parts they are worked asunder, as if they were two joined a-top by some strong cement. A large nest consists of either or ten baskets, contained within each other. Their dimensions are different, but they usually make the outside basket about a foot deep, a foot and a half broad, and almost a yard long...Formerly, those baskets which the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_23">Cheerake</span> made, were so highly esteemed even in South Carolina, the politest of our colonies, for domestic usefulness, beauty and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_24">skilful</span> variety, that a large nest of them costs upwards of a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_25">moidore</span>. (456).<br /><br />J.C.H. King (1999) speculates as to how baskets such as Sloane's were collected. The governor, in Charleston, would have been in contact through a network of intermediaries, such as traders, with people in the interior. As traders sold cloth, metal tools, and tobacco to prominent Native American leaders, they would have received copious deer-skins in exchange, and perhaps also a basket or two given as a gesture by a woman related to one of the Cherokee traders. The basket might then have become a gift outside the normal spheres of utilitarian exchange. In this manner, it would have been a symbol of cultural and economic allegiance, possibly in a colonial home before being sent to Europe (93-94).<br /><br />The use of white-oak splints for baskets gained widespread popularity only after the introduction of metal tools, which permitted the efficient manufacturing and fashioning of the splints (<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_26">Catesby</span> 1731-43, vol. 2, p. xi) During the 1720s, Mark <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_27">Catesby</span> stated: " I now send ye capt. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_28">Easton</span> in ye <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_29">Neptuen</span> a Box of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_30">Dryed</span> plants with an Indian Apron of the Wild Mulberry this kind of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_31">Cloath</span> with a kind of Basket they make the Split cane are the only <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_32">Mechanick</span> Arts with Notice" (J.C.H. King 1999, 92)<br /><br />Except taken from: Art of the Cherokee by Susan Power; for a copy of this book: <a href="http://www.bookfinder4u.com/IsbnSearch.aspx?isbn=0820327670&mode=direct">http://www.bookfinder4u.com/IsbnSearch.aspx?isbn=0820327670&mode=direct</a><div class="blogger-post-footer">Cherokee Basket weavers and why they weave</div>Cherokee Basketshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14370474388373212376noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16690691.post-2277848980971371582008-07-01T14:18:00.000-07:002008-07-01T15:32:42.025-07:00Mavis Doering - 1929-2007Except taken from: Art of the Cherokee by Susan Power<br /><br />"One of the most accomplished weavers, Mavis <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Doering</span>, was born August 31, 1929, in Hominy, Oklahoma. She was named an Honored One by the Red Earth organization of Oklahoma in acknowledgment of her exceptional weaving skills. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Doering's</span> style combines elements of traditional Cherokee basket construction techniques with her own unique <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">desing</span> interpretations. Ina 1989 artist's statement for the Native Americans as Creative Adaptors exhibition in Athens, Georgia, she says, "Basket weaving offers many things to me and, as a third generation weaver. I strive to do the best job I can so that my people would be proud" (<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Doering</span> 1989, 30) Four examples of her weaving, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Buckbrush</span> Baskets (figure 63), illustrate her style, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">emphasing</span> repetitive bands of contrasting colors, two adorned with leather, beads, and fathers, typical of her mixed-media works.<br /><br />Using <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">buckbrush</span> and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">honesuckle</span> runners, white-Oak and ash splints, reed, and cane, Mavis <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Doering</span> creates a range of different styles and patterns, often embellished with attachments to give the baskets heightened visual interest. She faithfully researches and fathers natural materials, spending many hours preparing and dyeing the weaving elements before beginning the actual weaving. "The majority of materials that I use are gathered in eastern Oklahoma. My mother owns and lives on 80 acres which is part of her original allotment, about 20 miles east of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">Tahlequah</span>, and this is where I obtain most of the natural materials that I work with" (30). Most <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">Doering</span> baskets bear well-known Cherokee <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">patterns</span>, such as Mountain Peaks, Double Chief's Daughter, and Lightning.<br /><br />A member of the Cherokee Nation of (in) Oklahoma, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">Doering</span> created a group of baskets that incorporated painted elements contributed by contemporary painters Gerald Stone (Seminole-Cherokee), Jeanne <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">Rorex</span> (later Jeanne <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">Rorex</span> Bridges, Cherokee) and Joan Brown (Cherokee-Creek) and unique motifs such as the Witch Deer. The <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">basekts</span> were shown at the Sixth Annual Sales exhibition, June 12-September 30, 1988, at the Southern Plains Indian Museum an<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">d Crafts</span> Center, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">Anadarko</span>, Oklahoma (Anonymous 1988, 64-65) Mavis <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">Doering</span> has been featured in television programs and is the recipient of numerous awards for her works, which are represented in several private and permanent collections, including the Southern Plains museum and the Oklahoma State <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">Art</span> Collection."<br /><br />for a copy of this book:<br /><a href="http://www.bookfinder4u.com/IsbnSearch.aspx?isbn=0820327670&mode=direct">http://www.bookfinder4u.com/IsbnSearch.aspx?isbn=0820327670&mode=direct</a><div class="blogger-post-footer">Cherokee Basket weavers and why they weave</div>Cherokee Basketshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14370474388373212376noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16690691.post-1128201345090164172005-10-01T14:14:00.000-07:002006-11-01T11:30:52.936-08:00Legend of the Cherokee RoseWhen the Cherokee were removed from their homelands during what became known as the Trail of Tears, they were forced to leave everything behind that was dear to them as well as everything they had that might have helped them have a better start in a new place.<br /><br />The women were full of sorrow and began to cry. They cried so hard and shed so many tears that their men were afraid they would lose their strength and not be able to care for the children and for the family. The men were afraid that the women would become so weak from sorrow and crying that they would die. That night the men asked Creator to help the women and give them something to take their sorrow. As they went along the next day and looked back at where they had come from, they saw beautiful green plants with white roses spring up along the trail. Those white flowers jumped up everywhere their tears fell, its seven leaflets representing the seven Cherokee clans, and it had gold in the center like the gold the white men were looking for in Cherokee country. The growth of the strong thorny plants reclaimed some of the land the people had lost and when the women saw the Cherokee Rose, it gave them the strength they needed to bring up their children in a new Cherokee Nation.<br /><br />The Cherokee Rose is a heritage rose and it is the Georgia state flower. The number of petals on Cherokee Roses varies from 5 to 7. It is a very hardy flower.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Cherokee Basket weavers and why they weave</div>Cherokee Basketshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14370474388373212376noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16690691.post-1127663961518132522005-09-25T08:55:00.000-07:002006-11-01T11:30:52.876-08:00Origin of the Pleiades and the PineOrigin of the Pleiades and the Pine<br /><br />Long ago, when the world was new, there were seven boys who used to spend all their time down by the townhouse playing the gatayu.sti game, rolling astone wheel along the ground and sliding a curved stick after it to strike it. Their mothers scolded, but it did no good, so one day they collected some gatayu.sti stones and boiled them in the pot with the corn for dinner.When the boys came home hungry their mothers dipped out the stones and said,"Since you like the gatayu.sti better than the cornfield, take the stonesnow for your dinner."<br /><br />The boys were very angry, and went down to the townhouse, saying, "As our mothers treat us this way, let us go where we shall never trouble them anymore." They began a dance - some say it was the Feather dance - and wentround and round the townhouse, praying to the spirits to help them. At last their mothers were afraid something was wrong and went out to look for them. They saw the boys still dancing around the townhouse, and as they watched they noticed that their feet were off the earth, and that with every round they rose higher and higher in the air. They ran to get their children, but it was too late, for they were already above the roof of the townhouse - all but one, whose mother managed to pull him down with the gatayu.sti pole, but he struck the ground with such force that he sank into it and the earth closed over him.<br /><br />The other six circled higher and higher until they went up to the sky, where we see them now as the Pleiades, which the Cherokee still call Ani.tsutsa (The Boys). The people grieved long after them, but the mother whose boy had gone into the ground came every morning and every evening to cry over the spot until the earth was damp with her tears. At last a little green shoot sprouted up and grew day by day until it became the tall tree that we call now the pine, and the pine is of the same nature as the stars and holds in itself the same bright light.<br /><br />source: Mooney, Cherokee History<br /><br />(interesting in all this info is no reference to the River Cane plants they used for making baskets - Selu btw was the first basket user in Cherokee History)<div class="blogger-post-footer">Cherokee Basket weavers and why they weave</div>Cherokee Basketshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14370474388373212376noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16690691.post-1127591670806479042005-09-24T12:49:00.000-07:002006-11-01T11:30:52.823-08:00Seven: The Sacred numbersIn every tribe and cult throughout the world we find sacred numbers. Christianity and the Christian world have three and seven. The Indian has always four as the principal sacred number, with usually another only slightly subordinated. The two sacred numbers of the Cherokee are four and seven, the latter being the actual number of the tribal clans, the formulistic number of upper worlds or heavens, and the ceremonial number of paragraphs or repetitions in the principal formulas. Thus in the prayers for long life the preist raises his client by successive stages to the first, second, third, fourth, and finally to the seventh heaven before the end is accomplished. The sacred four has direct relation to the four cardinal points, while seven, besides these, includes also "above," "below," and "here" in the center." In many tribal rituals color and sometimes sex are assigned to each point of direction. In the sacred Cherokee formulas the spirits of the East, South, West, and North are, respectively, Red, White, Black, and Blue, and each color has also its own symbolic meaning of Power (war), Peace, Death and Defeat.<br />(White was a Peace color and Red a war color)<br /><br />source: James Mooney's History, Myths, and Sacred Fomulas oftheCherokees<br /><br />(Every Traditional Oklahoma Cherokee Double Walled basket starts with 4 and 7 spokes)<div class="blogger-post-footer">Cherokee Basket weavers and why they weave</div>Cherokee Basketshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14370474388373212376noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16690691.post-1127590748659191022005-09-24T12:34:00.000-07:002006-11-01T11:30:52.770-08:00Additional Notes on the First FireThe first fire: This myth was obtained from Swimmer and John Ax. It is noted also in Foster's "Sequoyah" and in the Wahnenauhi manuscripts. The uksu.hi and the gule.gi are, respectively, the Coluber obsoletus and Bascanion constrictor. The water-spider is the large hairy species Argyroneta.<br /><br />In the version given in the Wahnenauhi manuscript the Possum and the Buzzard first make the trial, but come back unsuccessful, one losing the hair from his tail, while the other has the feathers scorched from his head and neck. In another version the Dragon-fly assists the Water-spider by pushing the tusti from behind. In the corresponding Creek myth, as given in the Tuggle manuscript, the Rabbit obtains fire by the stratagem of touching to the blaze a cap trimmed with sticks of rosin, while pretending to bend low in the dance. In the Jicarilla myth the Fox steals fire by wrapping cedar bark around his tail and thrusting it into the blaze while dancing around the circle.<br /><br />Tusti for Tusti.ga, a small bowl; larger jars are called diwa.li and unti.ya.<br /><br />source: James Mooney's History, Myths, and Sacred Fomulas of theCherokees<div class="blogger-post-footer">Cherokee Basket weavers and why they weave</div>Cherokee Basketshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14370474388373212376noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16690691.post-1127589167418968362005-09-24T12:06:00.000-07:002007-06-22T19:17:07.331-07:00The First FireIn the beginning there was no fire, and the world was cold, until the Thunders (Ani.Hyun.tikwala.ski) who lived up in Galun.lati, sent their lightning and put fire into the bottom of a hollow sycamore tree which grew on an island. The animals knew it was there, because they could see the smoke coming out at the top, but they could not get to it on account of the water, so they held a council to decide what to do. This was a long time ago.<br /><br />Every animal that could fly or swim was anxious to go after the fire. The Raven offered, and because he was so large and strong they thought he could surely do the work, so he was sent first. He flew high and far across the water and alighted on the sycamore tree, but while he was wondering what to do next; the heat had scorched all his feathers black, and he was frightened and came back without the fire. The little Screech-owl (Wa.huhu) volunteered to go, and reached the place safely, but while he was looking down into the hollow tree a blast of hot air came up and nearly burned out his eyes. He managed to fly home as best he could, but it was a long time before he could see well, and his eyes are red to this day. Then the Hooting Owl (U.guku) and the Horned Owl (tskili) went, but by the time they got to the hollow tree the fire was burning so fiercely that the smoke nearly blinded them, and the ashes carried up by the wind made white rings about their eyes. They had to come home again without the fire, but with all their rubbing they were never able to get rid of the white rings.<br /><br />Now no more of the birds would venture, and so the little Uksu.hi snake, the black racer, said he would go through the water and bring back some fire. He swam across to the island and crawled through the grass to the tree, and went in by a small hole at the bottom. The heat and smoke were too much for him, too, and after dodging about blindly over the hot ashes until he was almost on fire himself he managed by good luck to get out again at the same hole, but his body had been scorched black, and he has ever since had the habit of darting and doubling on his track as if trying to escape from close quarters. He came back, and the great blacksnake, Gulegi, "The Climber," offered to go for fire. He swam over to the island and climbed up the tree on the outside, as the blacksnake always does, but when he put his head down into the hole the smoke choked him so that he fell into the burning stump, and before he could climb out again he was as black as the Uksu .hi.<br /><br />Now they held another council, for still there was no fire, and the world was cold, but birds, snakes, and four-footed animals, all had some excuse for not going, because they were all afraid to venture near the burning sycamore, until at last Kanane.ski Amai.yehi (the Water Spider) said she would go. This is not the water spider that looks like a mosquito, but the other one, with black downy hair and red stripes on her body. She can run on top of the water or dive to the bottom, so there would be no trouble to get over to the island, but the question was, How could she bring back the fire? "I'll manage that," said the Water Spider; so she spun a thread from her body and wove it into a tusti bowl, which she fastened on her back. Then she crossed over to the island and through the grass to where the fire was still burning. She put one little coal of fire into her bowl, and came back with it, and ever since we have had fire, and the Water Spider still keeps her tusti bowl.<br /><br />(some Traditional Double Walled Baskets have the image of the Water Spider woven into the basket bottom)<br /><br />source: James Mooney's History, Myths, and Sacred Fomulas of the Cherokees<div class="blogger-post-footer">Cherokee Basket weavers and why they weave</div>Cherokee Basketshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14370474388373212376noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16690691.post-1126633128146020542005-09-13T10:35:00.000-07:002006-11-01T11:30:52.659-08:00Weaving todayThe majority of modern Cherokee weavers are older women on the Qualla reservation in North Carolina, but this does not mean that basket making among these people is a dying art. None of the presently recognized weavers began to make baskets regularly until they were in their late twenties or older, and there are a number of younger women who are now learning the craft and beginning serious basket production.<br /><br />North Carolina weavers tend to specialize as to materials used and shapes or designs preferred, but all utilize locally gathered materials and for the most part natural dyes. Among the weavers are: Emma Taylor and Carol S.Welsh. The most skilled cane basket makers are Eva Wolfe, Rowena Bradley and Edmond Youngbird. Oak splint baskets are made by Elsie Welsh Watty, Amanda Smoke and Agnes Welsh. Oak rib basketry is the specialty of eighty year old Julia Taylor and her daughters Dollie Taylor and Sallie Taylor Wade and granddaughter, Mary Ann Ball. Sally Locust, Joyce Taylor, Nancy Conseen and Geneava Tooni are expert weavers of honeysuckle wicker.<br /><br />Increased production a marked improvement in quality and the re-learning ofthe almost forgotten double-weaving by Eva Wolfe have been positive responses by basketmakers to market demands. Through the years there have been changes in popular shapes and favored materials, an increase in exoticforms, and in the number of styles with handles. The most recent innovation has been the substitution of maple for oak in many of the simpler plaited styles. Maple has a glossy sheen which has been found to have a greaterappeal to the purchaser of baskets at Qualla.<br /><br />In Oklahoma, where no stable market for baskets developed, there was a brief florescence of the craft in the 1930s and the 1940s followed by a rapid decline. Today there are few well-known weavers and most baskets are made on commission or occasionally for small local outlets. Oklahoma Cherokee basketmakers, particularly Joyce Johnson, Ella Mae Blackbear, Mavis Doering,Thelma Forrest, Shirley Gewein and several living in the Tahlequah area are making some effort toward revitalizing the craft in the state. Quality and production are improving although several weavers work extensively with commercially purchased materials.<br /><br />Eva Wolfe, an Eastern Cherokee, specializes in cane double-weaving and is one of the most widely known basketweavers in the United States.<br /><br />source: Basketry of Southeastern Indians by Marshall Gettys, Editor<div class="blogger-post-footer">Cherokee Basket weavers and why they weave</div>Cherokee Basketshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14370474388373212376noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16690691.post-1126632876037286842005-09-13T10:26:00.000-07:002006-11-01T11:30:52.599-08:00The Original WeaverBaskets carry many levels of meaning. They evoke the primeval era, mythological time, and the genesis of the world and the people themselves.They recall the original weaver, Kanane-ski Amai-yehi (Spider Dwelling in the Water), who was, by her very name as well as her habitation and manner of living, literally connected to water. Universally identified as female, the first weaver associated women with water, an association that was born out in the early Cherokee division of labor that gave women the responsibility for carrying water.<br /><br />The brief narrative of the First Fire identifies certain characteristics of the weaver, "She can run on top of the water or dive down to the bottom,"Swimmer and John Ax explained to James Mooney. The legendary weaver crosses boundaries between world, moving from the surface to the depth, from land to water, from water to fire, and finally, for the sake of the people, from darkness to light and from cold to heat. Crossing and connecting worlds, she posits a relationship between two places, elements, and conditions. As a female, as a being connected to water, and as one who moves from one world to another, she evokes women's ability to be simultaneously one person and two, an individual and also a woman carrying an infant in a sac of water in her belly.<br /><br />The myth of the First Fire celebrates the weaver, the act of weaving and finally the container itself. The container carries fire, the earthly representation of the sun, who was also female in the early Cherokee pantheon. Kanane-ski Amai-yehi's container of fire parallels early Cherokee households that had central hearths where women maintained fires.<br /><br />In surviving myth fragments, baskets carry elements of sacred power even in their most common place usage. The first woman, Selu, takes a basket with her when she goes into the seclusion of the corn house. ... Moreover, the story of Selu represents change - from one kind of food production to another, from one way of life to another. By understanding the necessity of change, Selu guarantees the future of the Cherokee people.<br /><br />The stories of the First Fire, Selu, and How the World was Made are like doublewoven baskets, multilayered and densely textured. They are expressions of the customs, behaviors, and beliefs of women and asset a culture and identity of women that is specifically Cherokee.<br /><br />Weavers have not simply replicated the work of their predecessors. Basketry has been a living tradition that has changed over time. The most significant changes have occurred in the selection of material.<br /><br />Weavers have had access to many possible materials. Even with such a variety of resources, they emphasized rivercane above all others for hundreds of years. The material was abundant and it was durable. Their preference for rivercane accompanied a spiritual association with flowing water. Cherokees lived by the water spiritually, psychologically and physically. The historical period when rivercane was their primary basketmaterial correlates with an elaborate ceremonial life that continuously connected them to water.<br /><br />Although Cherokees adopted various customs of surrounding whites they continued some of their own conventions. These different strands are represented and evoked by the coexistence and intermixing of rivercane and white oak basketry.<br /><br />Honeysuckle basketry developed in a period of extraordinary discrepancy between the rhetoric of American liberty and the reality of Indian policy.<br /><br />In the 1940's weavers added a fourth material, the indigenous red maple that grows fast in forest clearings.<br /><br />Contemporary baskets are decorative items rather than ceremonial or work objects. The ceremonial use of baskets disappeared in the nineteenth century, and domestic functions waned in the twentieth.<br /><br />source: Weaving New Worlds by Sarah Hill<div class="blogger-post-footer">Cherokee Basket weavers and why they weave</div>Cherokee Basketshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14370474388373212376noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16690691.post-1126632051047753542005-09-13T10:10:00.000-07:002006-11-01T11:30:52.543-08:00Lottie Queen StamperIn 1937 Gertrude Flanagan accompanied boarding school principal Sam Gilliam to the Painttown home of basketweaver Lottie Queen Stamper and asked her to teach basketry at the school.<br /><br />Lottie Queen was born in 1906 "on a little farm" in Soco. She was the fifth of six children and the fourth of five daughters born to Levi and Mary Queen. They "use to go to the hills" to get white oak saplings for baskets. As a child, she learned from her father "how the log was to be split," andthen "my mother took over and showed me how to make splits."<br /><br />After she married, Stamper learned from her mother-in-law how to weave with rivercane.<br /><br />Stamper's school courses were an instant success. Stamper's contribution to Cherokee basketry is immeasurable. For more than thirty years, she taught both young girls and grown women. She worked in the Cherokee Boarding School until it closed in the early fifties, then taught high school classes and adult extension courses.<br /><br />In the late 1930's someone sent her a photograph of the two rivercane doubleweave baskets Governor Nicholson had carried with him from Charleston back to London in 1725. Stamper painstakingly wove a smaller version of each container using more than 500 splits of cane. The patterns in the baskets were not familiar to her and she had to recreate the designs on paper. "It took me two and one half days to work out the pattern," she later acknowledged. Her effort is dramatic testimony to the intricacies ofCherokee basketweaving.<br /><br />Stamper collected old patterns, copied them in a notebook, and reproduced them on graph paper. Drawings of rivercane patterns hung on the walls ofher classroom, and her students practiced reproducing them on graph paper in order to learn the numerical combinations for each design. Patterns that once belonged to families became common property. And patterns that once belonged only to rivercane were shared with white oak.<br /><br />Copying the work of others became common place, but public dissemination of family traditions contravened customs of knowledge and training. Patterns of basketry and life were undoubtedly lost in the process. The old rivercane designs hanging on the classroom walls represented a great deal more than weaving techniques. They were strands that connected family members, expressed identity, documented concepts shared through time, preserved knowledge and experience, and interwove past and present. Patterns were forms of communication and assertions of self. " Some people say if you copied their baskets," one weaver remarks quietly, "they say you're taking their patterns away." The implications are profound.<br /><br />As family patterns moved into public arenas, they took on new names. Most weavers recall that the names of basket patterns came from Gertrude Flanagan and Edna Groves. The names, like "Flowing Water" and "Chief's Daughter,"tended toward nostalgia. Many say that such names have no meaning to them and that their mothers and grandmothers did not identify patterns by name. Others, however fully adopted the custom and participated in the new practice of naming designs and patterns. After Stamper replicated the Nicholson basket, she claimed that "we basket makers named the bottom part"The Pine Tree" and the the top "The Casket."<br /><br />In 1951, The Indian Arts and Crafts Board hired Gertrude Flanagan as Arts and Crafts Specialist for the Southeastern region. In her new role, she assumed responsibility for encouraging and directing craftwork amongChoctaws, Seminoles and Catawbas, as well as Cherokees.<br /><br />source: Weaving New Worlds, by Sarah Hill<div class="blogger-post-footer">Cherokee Basket weavers and why they weave</div>Cherokee Basketshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14370474388373212376noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16690691.post-1126631394025396932005-09-13T10:06:00.000-07:002006-11-01T11:30:52.480-08:00Vegetation DyesNear each weaver's home, a large iron pot of water sits on a hearth of river rocks or metal and irons. Stoking the fire under the pot until the water simmers, she immerses roots, bark, hulls, berries, or leaves by the handful to make natural dyes that endure for decades or even centuries.<br /><br />Vegetation for dyes include ripe berries of pokeweed (tsayatika) for pale red, oak galls (atagu) for rich red, anjelica leaves (wane-kita) for green,bark and roots of sumac (kwalaga) for brown, and yellow root (daloni-geunaste-tsi) for yellow. Through the long, complex development of Cherokee basketry, weavers have undoubtedly experimented with many indigenous and introduced plants for basketry materials. Any berry or nut or root that stained the fingers gathering them must have been potential dye.<br /><br />From earliest memory, however, Cherokee weavers have chosen red, dark brown, and black hues for basketry. Black come from hulls, roots, or bark of butternut or white walnut (ko-hi), brown from hulls, roots, leaves or bark of black walnut (se-di), and red from roots of the bloodroot plant (gigageunaste-tsi). Material from black or white walnut trees can be gathered anytime of year, then dried and stored for use later. Though all parts of the tree can be used, the roots supply the most intense colors. Bloodroot is a nearly spring forb that thrives in the soil of deciduous forests. The fragile blossom that appears in early March is followed by deeply scalloped, blue-green leaves that grow through the summer. The orange-red dye comes from small rhizomes attached to multiple underground stems. The roots must be dug before the plant dies back in early autumn, for it leaves no sign of where it has grown. Weavers can dry and bury roots to store over fall and winter, but mold will cause rapid decay. In modern times, some weavers preserve bags of roots in their freezers.<br /><br />Each color requires a separate pot of simmering water, which may account for the limited number of colors on baskets. To speed the dyeing and set the color, weavers might add a mordant. Before modern commercial mordants the mordant came from ashes, urine, or alum. Without mordants, splints take at least one full day to absorb brown or black walnut dyes. Red dye from bloodroot sets in a few hours. Weavers submerge the coils of splints into the simmering dye, weighing them down with rocks or heavy roots. Dyeing requires a watchful eye and plenty of time.<br /><br />source: Weaving New Worlds by Sarah Hill<div class="blogger-post-footer">Cherokee Basket weavers and why they weave</div>Cherokee Basketshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14370474388373212376noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16690691.post-1126631141360290822005-09-13T10:01:00.000-07:002006-11-01T11:30:52.422-08:00Baskets Meaning and ReasonBaskets have both meaning and reason. The meaning of Cherokee basketry, evident in legend, custom, and history, relates to the role and work of women as the source of food and life, as providers and sustainers for their families.<br /><br />The direct evidence, Cherokee baskets, is quite variable. Few baskets have survived from the eighteenth century. Perhaps a dozen remain from the early19th century, before removal.<br /><br />Toward the end of the 19th century, basket collectors discovered the Cherokees, and accordingly, from the turn of that century to the present, many baskets of rivercane, white oak, and honeysuckle can be found in collections in Oklahoma, New York, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Illinois, Colorado, Washington, D.C., Tennessee, and North Carolina.<br /><br />The second primary source of information about preremoval Cherokees is government documents. These, however, are most concerned with politics. ...giving little information about women and almost none about their transforming work in ecosystems.<br /><br />Louise Goings says that "everybody has their own way of making stuff.""Their own way" includes details such as basket shapes, split widths, organization of colors, and varieties of ornamentation like rim bindings and curls. There is also something ineffable about their work that basketmakers can't define. In the long run, as one explains, "even my own baskets, I know, they're not two made alike."<br /><br />Contemporary weaver Agnes Welch says that she makes a basket the way she does because "that's how it is supposed to look."<br /><br />In a basket, there is both something very personal and something related to a collective consciousness.<br /><br />source: Weaving New Worlds by Sarah Hill<div class="blogger-post-footer">Cherokee Basket weavers and why they weave</div>Cherokee Basketshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14370474388373212376noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16690691.post-1126630907424112822005-09-13T09:58:00.000-07:002006-11-01T11:30:52.363-08:00Basket Periods and MaterialsBasket materials correspond to chronological periods. The rivercane period extends from the earliest contact with Europeans until the removal encompassing the era when Cherokees depended most on cane as a basket source. They made and used rivercane baskets for daily subsistence activities, for exchange, and for ceremonies and rituals. <br /><br />The white oak period begins with removal. 19th century Cherokees fullyincorporated white oak into conventions of rivercane basketry as they recastsettlement patterns, subsistence customs, and social systems on themountainous land that became the reservation. White oak basketry is a European American tradition that includes men as well as women. Access to rivercane, and to all that it had meant, became increasingly limited. By the end of the 19th century, white oak baskets were as much an index of change as rivercane baskets had been signifiers of continuity.<br /><br />Honeysuckle period develops around the turn of the 20th century, when new federal policies aimed to assimilate Native Americans through formal education, industrial training, and the eradiciation of native languages and customs. Weavers did not relinquish rivercane or white oak basketry, rather, they incorporated a third material and developed a new tradition.<br /><br />The red maple period includes the New Deal for Indians, a program implemented by the Roosevelt administration and Indian commissioner John Collier and it follows the development of Cherokee dependence on tourism that has continued through the last decade of the 20th century.<br /><br />source: Weaving New Worlds, by Sarah Hill<div class="blogger-post-footer">Cherokee Basket weavers and why they weave</div>Cherokee Basketshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14370474388373212376noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16690691.post-1126630338889141462005-09-13T09:47:00.000-07:002006-11-01T11:30:52.304-08:00Cherokee PatternsThat spring morning, Rowena Bradley was sitting in a kitchen chair at the edge of her front yard. Dogs slept fitfully nearby, a cat stared from the window, and hens pecked nervously at the ground. Looking out toward the mountains as she wove a rivercane basket, Rowena Bradley followed with her fingers a pattern that lives in her memory. Occasionally selecting a cane split from a bucket half-filled with water, she wove quickly, scarcely pausing to examine her work. She knew without looking how the pattern would develop in the basket. She has woven rivercane baskets most of her life. The pattern she was weaving is sometimes called "Flowing Water", but the name has no meaning to Rowena Bradley. "Well now," she says, "I'll tell you just like I've told everybody else. My mother never had no names or no meaning to her designs. she just made them. And that's the way I do."<br /><br />Among Cherokees, women have been the primary makers and users of baskets.The story of Cherokee basketry and the story of Cherokee women are like a doublewoven basket, interwoven, inseparable, and complex. The stories encompass strands of the past and present, and represent transformations in lives, minds, and landscapes.<br /><br />source: Weaving New Worlds, by Sarah Hill<div class="blogger-post-footer">Cherokee Basket weavers and why they weave</div>Cherokee Basketshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14370474388373212376noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16690691.post-1126629687640043662005-09-13T09:39:00.000-07:002006-11-01T11:30:52.244-08:00Cherokee MaterialsRowena Bradley explains that acquiring material for baskets has long been a problem. "You know, at times, she couldn't get cane." Once Tahlahyeh even made a few baskets of bamboo. A man from the neighboring town of Bryson,six miles west, "put up a craft shop" and brought her some bamboo. He was curious about the material and the weaver. Rowena Bradley smiles with the memory. "He wanted to know if she could make a basket out of it. Well, she did, but she dyed it just like she does the rivercane."<br /><br />Rowena Bradley's mother was Nancy George Bradley (Tahtahyeh). That craftshop owner keeps one of Nancy Bradley's bamboo baskets in his extensive private collection. He considers it one of his most valuable acquisitions because of the unusual material and because it was made by Nancy Bradley.<br /><br />source: Weaving New Worlds, by Sarah H. Hill<div class="blogger-post-footer">Cherokee Basket weavers and why they weave</div>Cherokee Basketshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14370474388373212376noreply@blogger.com