A Case For Baskets Modern-Day Native Americans See This Ancient Style Of Weaving As Part Artistic, Part Symbolic And Part Historic

It’s easy to see a basket as just a basket.

Gertrude Stein might even say that a basket is a basket is a basket.

But members of the Northwest Native American Basketweavers Association see their work as more than just any one anything. To them, baskets are both implements of practicality and examples of fine art, symbols of their cultural traditions and the means to share that culture with society at large.

More to the point of this story, baskets are the reason for the association’s fourth annual gathering, which begins its three-day run today in Spokane.

Most of the gathering’s events are limited to members only. But an all-day (10 a.m.-6 p.m.) demonstration and market will be held Saturday at the DoubleTree Hotel (next to the Spokane Convention Center).

And a special exhibition of the basketwork of master weavers is on display through mid-October at the Cheney Cowles Museum (for more information, call 456-3931).

One thing is clear: To many Native Americans, a basket is more than a simple weave of grass and reeds.

“I would define it as a very gentle power,” says Colleen Ray, NNABA executive director and a member of the Chippewa tribe. “It’s a creative, gentle power that is very practical.”

Ray was referring to the larger significance that basketweaving holds for the Native American community. She says that the art, which — according to archaeological finds — dates back at least 12,000 years, has outgrown its practical roots. Baskets no longer can be considered as merely containers used to do everything from storing berries to boiling water.

“It’s tempting to associate it with a craft and things that are very easily and quickly done,” she says. “But in fact, it takes a lifetime to develop the skills that many of these weavers have.”

That’s evident from the 15 baskets, representing the work of 13 artists, that grace a glass-lined case at the Cheney Cowles Museum. Collected from tribes from all over the Northwest, Umatilla to Nez Perce, Colville to Makah, the baskets utilize a variety of natural materials.

According to Ethel LeCornu, the NNABA gathering coordinator, this is to be expected. The materials used generally depend on what’s available in the tribal homeland. Coastal tribes, LeCornu says, typically use cedar as a main ingredient, whereas plateau tribes prefer cornhusks.

For example, master weaver Mary Leitka (of the Hoh tribe) is the daughter of the late basketweaver Leila Fisher, whose works are on display in museums all over the country. Leitka created her twined and plaited basket out of strands of cedar and aniline dyed cornhusk.

In contrast, Stephen Noyes (Colville) used willow and white ash.

Yet materials aren’t the only way to differentiate the works. In terms of size, Gerald Bruce Miller (Skokomish) wove the exhibit’s smallest piece, using cedar, cornhusk and goat wool. Nettie Jackson (Yakama), on the other hand, made the largest, a “signature basket,” says museum employee Jennifer Ferguson, created in “coiled Klickitat style” combining cedar, beargrass and reed with various dyed designs.

And then there are the decorative touches. Some of the baskets feature brightly dyed yarn; others use various dyed designs.

One of the designs on Jackson’s “Klickitat” basket, Ferguson points out, even resembles a swastika.

But, as she explains, “Actually, that’s a very old tradition in design that native people have used for years and years and years. It wasn’t until Hitler came along and made it popular that people even began to notice.”

It is one hope of the association that these annual gatherings will help keep such traditions alive.

“Hopefully, this will help tribe members to start weaving or to get back into weaving,” says LeCornu. “The Spokane tribe especially needs to get somebody in our community weaving.”

Association executive director Ray agrees. She’s heartened that some 70 members of the Colville Confederated Tribes, which donated $1,500 to put on the event, plan to attend.

One way to continue the momentum, she believes, is to educate the public at large about such an age-old art. Past gatherings - in Olympia for the first two years, last year in Yakima - were aimed mostly at tribal members, who were encouraged to join the association and pay $15 dues.

This year, though, the public can attend Saturday’s market and all-day demonstrations for just $5.

“Now we’re right in the heart of Spokane,” Ray says, “and we want the non-Indian community to come and appreciate this art.”

Even so, Ray, who admits she has woven one basket - “I’m so proud of myself,” she says - stresses that her association wants more members. In just its short existence, the NNABA has attracted some 220 members.

She wants 280 more.

“The sky’s the limit,” she says. “There are approximately 500,000 Native Americans in the Northwest region. And so if we had 500 weavers, I think that would be a real doable goal.”

And, after all, a goal is a goal is a goal.

WEAVING DEMONSTRATIONS The Northwest Native American Basketweavers Association will sponsor a market and all-day demonstrations from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday at the DoubleTree Hotel, 322 N. Spokane Falls Court. Admission is $5. A related basketweaving exhibit is on display at the Cheney Cowles Museum, 2316 W. First Ave.