Post by blackcrowheart on Apr 2, 2006 16:41:30 GMT -5
The art of basketmaking links cultures
The art of basketmaking links cultures Posted: March 29, 2006
by: Brenda Norrell <http://www.indiancountry.com/author.cfm?id=448> /
Indian Country Today
www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096412728
<http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096412728>
Click to Enlarge <http://www.indiancountry.com/pix/1096412728_large.jpg>
<http://www.indiancountry.com/pix/1096412728_large.jpg> Brenda
Norrell Indian Country -- (Top photo) Art Wilson, from Little Tucson,
Ariz., on the Tohono O'odham Nation, fashioned traditional O'odham
basketry at a Tohono O'odham Community Action exhibit at the Heard
Museum in Phoenix. He said the number of O'odham men who make baskets is
on the rise and plant-gathering trips are bringing tribal members
together. (Bottom) Stonehorse Lone Goeman, Seneca basketmaker and former
world champion Muay Thai boxer, is helping revitalize moosehair
embroidery and porcupine quill work in traditional Iroquois basketry.
PHOENIX - American Indian basketmakers near the nation's northern border
in New York and along the southern border in Arizona gather basketmaking
materials that are as different as spiny-bladed yucca and horsehair in
the south are from black ash wood and moosehair in the north.
The art of basketmaking, however, links Seneca and Tohono O'odham,
representing their living cultures while restoring balance and creating
beauty.
Stonehorse Lone Goeman, Seneca, is helping bring back the art of
moosehair embroidery and porcupine quills in Iroquois basketry.
''When people find out that I do moosehair embroidery, they go, 'No
way!''' Goeman said recently at the Heard Museum.
While displaying traditional basketry with his wife, Ronnie-Leigh
Goeman, Onondaga, Goeman explained that besides splitting and shredding
the black ash wood for basketry, there is the task of shampooing and
preparing moosehair.
''I go to Maine to get my moosehair. When I see a road kill, I throw on
the brakes in my Mercedes,'' Goeman said of his 1988 Mercedes-Benz.
Goeman, a self-taught boxer, is a former world champion in Muay Thai
boxing. Now, pointing out that he has 33 years of sobriety, Goeman said
he focuses on basketry and encouraging Native youths with the Native
American Boxing Team.
Within the circles of the baskets displayed before Goeman are coiled and
stored the stories of culture: stories with words of power.
''The old grandmas have always said to their babies that as long as the
people have the songs, dances and the language, we will always be able
to come home,'' Goeman said.
''It is not the land that is sovereign; it is the people. We try to do
things to keep the oral traditions alive. These are reminding the people
of that power.''
Women have always been the strength of Native people, he said, and too
often men have been taken away from the responsibility of caring for
children. The goal is to seek the balance for men and women.
Art Wilson, Tohono O'odham weaver from Little Tucson, on Tohono O'odham
tribal land in the Sonoran Desert near the border of Mexico, said
basketmaking is important to carry the O'odham culture forward.
''Traditionally, it was a woman's art; but during the past 20 years,
more men have started weaving,'' Wilson said while demonstrating
basketmaking at the Heard.
Wilson began weaving in 1982 and today joins family members to
demonstrate traditional basketmaking with the non-profit cooperative
Tohono O'odham Community Action, highly acclaimed in the United States
for promoting Native self-sufficiency.
''Basketmaking keeps you in touch with the O'odham. It is an art that
has been carried on for generations. It gets the people to interact on
collecting trips.
''Now, more so, we collect in groups on the reservation and go to the
traditional gathering lands,'' Wilson said as he wove the coil base of a
new basket.
Wilson said it is important to respect the plants from which weaving
materials are gathered and honor the traditions.
''You're not supposed to burn any of your shavings - you just throw them
out for the wind to carry away,'' he said.
O'odham basket materials on display included beargrass, white and green
yucca, black devil's claw and banana yucca. Baskets have always been
used to carry water and firewood, prepare food and store household
items. Traditional ceremonies, dances and songs are reflected in the
baskets.
Wilson pointed out the baskets have long been used to gather traditional
foods, including saguaro fruits and cholla cactus buds. Baskets were
also used for cooking. Wheat was roasted by placing hot coals in the
baskets with the kernels.
While Wilson and other award-winning Tohono O'odham craftsmen
demonstrated basketweaving, O'odham baskets filled with saguaro cactus
seeds, cholla cactus buds and acorns were placed before them and
packaged for sale.
O'odham traditional plants for basketmaking are disappearing.
Wilson said the material has changed and methods of collecting plants
have changed. Willow and cattail were once primarily used, but now many
of the springs have dried up because of the encroachment of ranchers and
the development of towns. Wells are also being drilled in
plant-gathering areas, he said.
In the mid-20th century, O'odham basketmakers began using horsetail hair
to weave miniature baskets; today, O'odham are continuing this skill.
O'odham basketmakers point out that there is no word for ''art'' in the
O'odham language. Instead, O'odham have always engaged in artful living,
blending beauty and usefulness.
TOCA's guiding force is the O'odham himdag (''desert peoples' way''),
the wisdom from the past that creates solutions for the future. TOCA
encourages community members to rely on their resources - the wisdom of
elders, enthusiasm of young people, richness of the land, centrality of
extended families and the desire to create healthy communities.
The Tohono O'odham Basketweavers Association, part of TOCA, is dedicated
to keeping basketry traditions a vital and living tradition. The
association works with 250 weavers and offers classes, while preserving
Native plant gathering areas. The group plans trips for its members to
gather basket materials.
In the past, traders took advantage of O'odham basketmakers, often
returning only 25 percent of the profits to the basketmakers. Today, the
non-profit TOCA ensures that 75 percent or more of the sales are
returned.
While Tohono O'odham have one of the largest groups of traditional
American Indian basketmakers in the United States, some traditions are
becoming rare. Wilson said O'odham mats were once traditionally woven as
basketry, but ''there is only one lady who knows how to do that.''
The art of basketmaking links cultures Posted: March 29, 2006
by: Brenda Norrell <http://www.indiancountry.com/author.cfm?id=448> /
Indian Country Today
www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096412728
<http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096412728>
Click to Enlarge <http://www.indiancountry.com/pix/1096412728_large.jpg>
<http://www.indiancountry.com/pix/1096412728_large.jpg> Brenda
Norrell Indian Country -- (Top photo) Art Wilson, from Little Tucson,
Ariz., on the Tohono O'odham Nation, fashioned traditional O'odham
basketry at a Tohono O'odham Community Action exhibit at the Heard
Museum in Phoenix. He said the number of O'odham men who make baskets is
on the rise and plant-gathering trips are bringing tribal members
together. (Bottom) Stonehorse Lone Goeman, Seneca basketmaker and former
world champion Muay Thai boxer, is helping revitalize moosehair
embroidery and porcupine quill work in traditional Iroquois basketry.
PHOENIX - American Indian basketmakers near the nation's northern border
in New York and along the southern border in Arizona gather basketmaking
materials that are as different as spiny-bladed yucca and horsehair in
the south are from black ash wood and moosehair in the north.
The art of basketmaking, however, links Seneca and Tohono O'odham,
representing their living cultures while restoring balance and creating
beauty.
Stonehorse Lone Goeman, Seneca, is helping bring back the art of
moosehair embroidery and porcupine quills in Iroquois basketry.
''When people find out that I do moosehair embroidery, they go, 'No
way!''' Goeman said recently at the Heard Museum.
While displaying traditional basketry with his wife, Ronnie-Leigh
Goeman, Onondaga, Goeman explained that besides splitting and shredding
the black ash wood for basketry, there is the task of shampooing and
preparing moosehair.
''I go to Maine to get my moosehair. When I see a road kill, I throw on
the brakes in my Mercedes,'' Goeman said of his 1988 Mercedes-Benz.
Goeman, a self-taught boxer, is a former world champion in Muay Thai
boxing. Now, pointing out that he has 33 years of sobriety, Goeman said
he focuses on basketry and encouraging Native youths with the Native
American Boxing Team.
Within the circles of the baskets displayed before Goeman are coiled and
stored the stories of culture: stories with words of power.
''The old grandmas have always said to their babies that as long as the
people have the songs, dances and the language, we will always be able
to come home,'' Goeman said.
''It is not the land that is sovereign; it is the people. We try to do
things to keep the oral traditions alive. These are reminding the people
of that power.''
Women have always been the strength of Native people, he said, and too
often men have been taken away from the responsibility of caring for
children. The goal is to seek the balance for men and women.
Art Wilson, Tohono O'odham weaver from Little Tucson, on Tohono O'odham
tribal land in the Sonoran Desert near the border of Mexico, said
basketmaking is important to carry the O'odham culture forward.
''Traditionally, it was a woman's art; but during the past 20 years,
more men have started weaving,'' Wilson said while demonstrating
basketmaking at the Heard.
Wilson began weaving in 1982 and today joins family members to
demonstrate traditional basketmaking with the non-profit cooperative
Tohono O'odham Community Action, highly acclaimed in the United States
for promoting Native self-sufficiency.
''Basketmaking keeps you in touch with the O'odham. It is an art that
has been carried on for generations. It gets the people to interact on
collecting trips.
''Now, more so, we collect in groups on the reservation and go to the
traditional gathering lands,'' Wilson said as he wove the coil base of a
new basket.
Wilson said it is important to respect the plants from which weaving
materials are gathered and honor the traditions.
''You're not supposed to burn any of your shavings - you just throw them
out for the wind to carry away,'' he said.
O'odham basket materials on display included beargrass, white and green
yucca, black devil's claw and banana yucca. Baskets have always been
used to carry water and firewood, prepare food and store household
items. Traditional ceremonies, dances and songs are reflected in the
baskets.
Wilson pointed out the baskets have long been used to gather traditional
foods, including saguaro fruits and cholla cactus buds. Baskets were
also used for cooking. Wheat was roasted by placing hot coals in the
baskets with the kernels.
While Wilson and other award-winning Tohono O'odham craftsmen
demonstrated basketweaving, O'odham baskets filled with saguaro cactus
seeds, cholla cactus buds and acorns were placed before them and
packaged for sale.
O'odham traditional plants for basketmaking are disappearing.
Wilson said the material has changed and methods of collecting plants
have changed. Willow and cattail were once primarily used, but now many
of the springs have dried up because of the encroachment of ranchers and
the development of towns. Wells are also being drilled in
plant-gathering areas, he said.
In the mid-20th century, O'odham basketmakers began using horsetail hair
to weave miniature baskets; today, O'odham are continuing this skill.
O'odham basketmakers point out that there is no word for ''art'' in the
O'odham language. Instead, O'odham have always engaged in artful living,
blending beauty and usefulness.
TOCA's guiding force is the O'odham himdag (''desert peoples' way''),
the wisdom from the past that creates solutions for the future. TOCA
encourages community members to rely on their resources - the wisdom of
elders, enthusiasm of young people, richness of the land, centrality of
extended families and the desire to create healthy communities.
The Tohono O'odham Basketweavers Association, part of TOCA, is dedicated
to keeping basketry traditions a vital and living tradition. The
association works with 250 weavers and offers classes, while preserving
Native plant gathering areas. The group plans trips for its members to
gather basket materials.
In the past, traders took advantage of O'odham basketmakers, often
returning only 25 percent of the profits to the basketmakers. Today, the
non-profit TOCA ensures that 75 percent or more of the sales are
returned.
While Tohono O'odham have one of the largest groups of traditional
American Indian basketmakers in the United States, some traditions are
becoming rare. Wilson said O'odham mats were once traditionally woven as
basketry, but ''there is only one lady who knows how to do that.''