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| Pomo traditional basketry | |
|---|---|
| Name | Pomo traditional basketry |
| Region | Northern California |
| Cultural groups | Pomo people |
| Materials | Willow, Redbud, Cattail, Sedge, Grass, Nettle, Iris |
| Known for | Coiled baskets, twined baskets, featherwork, beadwork |
Pomo traditional basketry Pomo traditional basketry is the ceremonial, utilitarian, and artistic basket-making practiced by the Pomo people of Northern California and adjacent regions. Renowned for technical mastery and aesthetic refinement, Pomo baskets have been documented in fieldwork by Alfred L. Kroeber, collected by institutions such as the Smithsonian Institution and the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, and featured in exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the California Academy of Sciences. The craft intersects with histories involving the Spanish missions in California, the California Gold Rush, and federal policies administered by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Pomo basketry emerged within networks of villages located around Clear Lake (California), the Russian River, and the Pacific Ocean coast, practiced by bands including the Kashaya Pomo, Southern Pomo, Northern Pomo, Coast Miwok interactions, and Wappo trading partners. Early ethnographers and collectors such as Stephen Powers, C. Hart Merriam, A. L. Kroeber, and Grace Hudson documented styles while dealers like Thomas W. Blackburn and patrons including Phoebe Hearst helped shape museum holdings. Colonial encounters with Spanish California, the Mexican–American War, and state policies after California statehood transformed lifeways but also intensified collecting by figures like Ralph H. Merritt and institutions like the Anthropological Survey of California.
Traditional Pomo makers harvested vegetal fibers from environments tied to territories like Mendocino County, Lake County, California, and Sonoma County. Common materials include willow species such as Salix lasiandra, redbud from Cercis occidentalis, bulrush and tule from marshes, and sedges used by artisans like Sally Morgan and Mildred Howard. Techniques documented by ethnologists John P. Harrington and collectors Phoebe Apperson Hearst include coiling, twining, and knotless plaiting; specialized tools such as awls and bone needles were noted in the papers of Alfred Kroeber and displayed at the Peabody Essex Museum. Preservation of raw materials depended on stewardship tied to land use disputes involving groups like the California Indian Legal Services and environmental projects by the U.S. Forest Service.
Pomo baskets encompass forms like burden baskets, seed beaters, cooking baskets, and fine visors; named examples appear in catalogs from the Field Museum of Natural History and the De Young Museum. Design vocabularies include geometric motifs, curvilinear patterns, figurative imagery, and poppy-seed or radiating medallions, paralleled in works by artists such as Lucy Telles and Mabel McKay. Iconography can reflect connections to the Coast Miwok iconography, the Yurok patterning exchanges, and regional trade with Karuk and Hupa communities. Baskets entered aesthetic markets documented in auction records at the Sotheby's and Christie's sales and in scholarly monographs by Margaret B. Blackman and Theodore Stern.
Baskets functioned in subsistence activities—acorn processing, fishing, and seed gathering—central to villages like Yokaya and Stewarts Point; elders including Jennie Underwood and healers such as Ishi-era accounts provided ethnographic detail. Ceremonial uses linked baskets to rites of passage, gift exchange, and potlatch-like events observed in studies by Philip Drucker and Alfred L. Kroeber. Ownership and transmission involved lineages traced through families documented in tribal enrollment records maintained by entities such as the Round Valley Indian Tribes and the Sherwood Valley Band of Pomo Indians. Conflict over cultural patrimony prompted legal actions under statutes like the National Historic Preservation Act and dialogues with agencies including the National Park Service.
Production systems ranged from household craft to market-oriented production after contact, with collectors and dealers such as W. A. Reid and institutions like the California State Library facilitating trade. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, women weavers such as Duggoa (named in ethnographic records) adapted to tourist demand in towns like Fort Bragg and Mendocino (California), supplying merchants and exhibiting at fairs like the Panama–Pacific International Exposition. Ethnographers including Julian Steward and economic historians like Theodore Kroeber tracked shifts as federal policies and missions of organizations such as the Bureau of Indian Affairs influenced labor patterns and cash economies.
The 20th and 21st centuries saw revival led by basketmakers and cultural advocates including Elizabeth James-Perry, Joan Brown (artist collaborations), Elsa Redmond (community programs), and tribal cultural departments at the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria and the Dry Creek Rancheria Band of Pomo Indians. Workshops and intertribal exchanges involve institutions like the California Indian Museum and Cultural Center and universities including University of California, Berkeley and Stanford University through programs supported by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts. Contemporary artists integrate traditional techniques with multimedia practices exhibited by galleries such as the Autry Museum of the American West and participated in conferences organized by the American Anthropological Association.
Major collections reside at the Smithsonian Institution, the Hearst Museum of Anthropology, the Field Museum, the De Young Museum, the Peabody Museum, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, with notable exhibitions curated by scholars like Ruth Phillips and Kay Redfield Jamison (as catalog contributors). Repatriation efforts under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act have engaged tribes including the Big Valley Band of Pomo Indians and the Round Valley Indian Tribes, prompting collaborative exhibitions at venues like the California Academy of Sciences and traveling shows organized by the National Museum of the American Indian. Recent catalogues and symposia at institutions such as UCLA Fowler Museum and the Autry document provenance research, conservation, and community-curated displays.
Category:Native American basketry Category:Pomo people Category:Native American art