WARP, Weave a Real Peace, made an online presentation yesterday featuring indigenous basket makers and the archaeology of fibers in the southwest. Some ancient fiber works are appearing now as a result of climate change and ice thawing.
Mostly the pictures are self explanatory, just enjoy the art and the sourcing. I asked questions and screenshot the answers
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This was a great display of fiberart, sourcing and history. The artists are affected by things like the emerald ash borer killing ash trees, so ash weavers have to find alternative materials. And where land comes under cultivation, the wild grasses and other plant material become scarcer. Tradition has to be partnered with innovation.
Happy day, everyone! Good Sunday, and here's a spring like image to enjoy
Brave Ukraine
Great post and creations. Fascinating to see the different parts of North America where they originate.
ReplyDeleteAncient civilization, far predating European arrival.
DeleteBasket weaving is something I've always admired so much. You know how much I love baskets! Something about them calls to me.
ReplyDeleteHave you ever seen pine needle baskets? I sometimes find old ones here at thrift/antique stores. They seem to last forever, even when used regularly.
I made pine needle baskets at a Peters Valley workshop, the instructor, Sue Smith, from the southwest, providing the needles, not available in the northeast. Yes, they last practically forever!
DeleteI know that the swastika is an ancient symbol common to many cultures and often with a benign or peaceful meaning, but it's still always jarring to see it. The Nazis perverted it forever in our western minds.
ReplyDeleteAugust pointed out that it's been used for thousands of years in his culture. I think he's reclaiming it.
DeleteBasketry is an art that well should be retained and passed along to new generations. I just heard (at a climate discussion) that some Native Tribes are receiving funding to farm marsh grasses to enable their basketry arts to survive!
ReplyDeleteThat's great news about the funding.
Deletethe picture with the ancient woven sandal brought back a memory. back when I was doing the river guide thing some of us did a private trip down the Pecos river in west Texas and in a side canyon at the top of the canyon wall is Hind's Cave, a dry cliff shelter that had been occupied off and on by nomadic bands of indigenous people for about 9,000 years starting around 8,000 BC. the shelter has been potholed by artifact hunters and excavated by Texas A&M. we climbed up the midden and sat in the shelter for a while and I was idly sifting my hands through the very loose layer and came up with an ancient woven child's sandal with the braided lace/string intact. I reburied it and we went on down the river.
ReplyDeleteThank you for respectfully replacing the sandal, not taking it as a souvenir. That was an exciting find.
DeleteMr Wood does beautiful work. Thank you for the introduction, Boud.
ReplyDeleteHe's such a nice man, too, very patient with his questioners.
DeleteSuch interesting and beautiful designs. It's also interesting that they must change and adapt as their raw materials are made scarcer by our modern world.
ReplyDeleteIt's something I hadn't thought about, particularly with the ash splint weavers.
DeleteLovely work. Weaving eludes me, basket weaving really eludes me.It's intricate.
ReplyDeleteIt takes such skill, sourcing and prepping and then making
DeleteWeaving with natural materials is very rewarding.
ReplyDeleteI bet you've tried it, in some of your art adventures.
DeleteWow some amazing and beautiful work.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I can use some of the branches from the willow that we have here to try and weave something.
If I do give it a go I’ll post a pic. But don’t hold your breath lol
Keep the branches damp for best results, so they don't break. And let us know how you get on.
DeleteOn a visit to SC I was able to watch a Gullah grandmother/granddaughter weave traditional grass baskets, and purchase a couple. Fascinating art.
ReplyDeleteI hope they're still being handled and used. Baskets need use so they don't dry out.
DeleteI had a similar experience to Ellen Abbott. An archaeologist and I were hiking along the cliffs above the Snake River in southern Idaho. We sat down by some basalt boulders. On a whim, he reached into a gap under one of them, and pulled out a remarkably intact woven sandal at least several hundred years old. We marveled over it, then he tucked it back into its cubby.
ReplyDeleteWe have Rhus trilobata (skunkbush sumac) in our yard as part of our bird thicket. Never thought of it as basket-making material. I'll take a look at the branches tomorrow - they undoubtedly will look more like the unmanaged than the managed branches in the slide.
Also, belated well-wishing on your 61st anniversary of a most interesting partnership with HP, even if the last 13 years have been one-sided. Relationships come in all varieties, don't they?
Chris from Boise
You might try your hand at a sumac basket. Interesting find, that sandal. I wonder if yours and Ellen's were made from yucca. It was commonly used for footwear by the people of the southwest
DeleteYucca lives further south, so possible for Ellen's artifact. I can't remember if the archaeologist speculated on the material. Here's an article about sagebrush bark sandals: https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/fort_rock_sandals/
DeleteYes, I didn't know how far north yucca grows, probably not as far as where you were then
DeleteShame about disappearing traditional natural resource but the traditional probably only grew out of using what was available. it would be an insult to our ancestors in some ways not to be as adaptable and innovative as they were - and build on using what is available.
ReplyDeleteExactly! Likewise if the ancestors had had access to modern materials, I've no doubt they'd have used them. Likewise in music. It's interesting to play antique instruments, but not smart to assume early composers thought they were wonderful. Just think what Bach could have done with a theremin!
DeleteInteresting to take note of the fact that ancient fibre arts are appearing due to climate change and ice melt.
ReplyDeleteIt's also happening in Northern Europe and Scandinavia where the glaciers are melting, amazing tools and fibers preserved by the ice.
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