Show Art M Treasures Made MadeI BY BYn n j jc I Squaws c i Coiled COile Basketry a t y of f the Pacific Slope Tribes Tribe s Which is Beyond Price Hundreds of Collectors Waiting Wai ing to Snap Up Upi i Every Good Specimen To speak of C id Che American Indies Indian a as asan asan c an n artist would em to most people tin In absurdity Yet Yat there 28 is a branch of lIf art in which the squaws of certain original aboriginal a I tribes stand incomparable UK in all the world the theline theline I line tine and nd delicate art of coiled colled basketry I i mb a few years a ago o interest t in this textile art was confined to 4 4 maU Of collectors and ethnol ethnologist ethnologist ethnologist ogist and the finest specimens of bas basketry basI I ketry could be bought for a few dollars Xo X Now 0 there we ave collectors all over OY ov the with whom bom basketry has ban t be e iome ome a mania the best examples of th art are held beld beyond price and andeen f even een the more ordinary output of the 11 sort which twenty years yeara ago gO could have been he n bought for tor 10 or 12 1 apiece is joy joyfully tully fully snapped up at from 5 50 to each faeh The coil Uon in th National muse im mi at Washington comprising about 1 1000 pieces w which cost coet probably 5 WO IO to to collect coiled be bought to tod d Mv v for fr basketry Is found among the Indians of the Pacific slope the Porno Ponies the th tb Wa hoes and the as u s being master craftsmen or OJ i rather ather craftswomen for it to is only the equa ua s who hu ply the bone needle In Ini i 1 he hf coiling colling of ot I the finer finci fin r pieces months ot vu steady st dy hAl tull are expended The mak maki i 15 of these theae charming treasures are among the th most moat forlorn artists on ona auth a nh One is filled with compassion i md ind amazement seeing one of them theD at et ik herself unkempt ier er garments mart and often otten dirty dirt her house and surroundIngs suggestive of anything but beauty drawings drawing pat patterns I c terns pretty bits rf f color effect she I Iha ha has haM none Her pattern patterns are in her soul soulin I in it 1 memory mem Or and imagination in the mountains water courses lakes and andin I in t tribal trib l tales tIes and myths m tbs which 7 dominate the actions of every hour She he hears suggestions from another world Her tools are more mors disappoint disappointing ing 31 still stil ill a rude knife a pointed bone thai is S all Her a h block is 1 her herself I self solf Her plastic bol 1 01 Is 18 the repository of fot forms Over tier her she the molds de i ns in her ware and tier er lap is j isI t I equal to all emergencies for to convex ef effects efI I I 1 J Symbolic Art in These Baskets I Lik all true art her art ha hail has mean meanS meanings f ings that lie beyond the obvious beatS beai i q ties tits of the abe workmanship The tu tri tn 1 1 angles on one of her specimens specimen are I mountain peaks leak every everyone one with a aj arame j rame This bold cycloid ascending a like I Ia a i noble nobl stairway from bottom to top I at another bowl Is IM i the trail over which I weary feet test must pass up the shining tep of J nature The whole basket Country Iou try is a iange of b mountain oun heie ht le the ideal j i for the the redbud the tte Hind Hin ls s willow and the roots reach rea h infection in certain valleys valley and andin andin in t th n m alone the Ram w most I i del d ite of all CoUrt basketry reaches J it r a or oi there th e baskets bask ts the thel I f l G 7 C t i sounding Bounding g beaches beadles of or the Pacific Pa i e are visited vt for fot their pearly pearl t and WId the forests hunted bunted for tot birds off o brIght blight colored plu plumage ge The basket mk mak must be mineralogist botanist bo and and ud geologist spinner weaver and colorist designer poet and sorcerer and aa as a imagination bodies forth the forms of f 1 things unseen her fingers lingers turn them to sh shapes pes es and give to airy ar noth nothings lags Inca a local habitation and nd a It name The bands on a Navajo coiled oiled basket black and red are not merely lU lely stripes of color they are associated d with cos cosmogony cosmogony mo ny The little rifts in the bands are not faults fults in stitching but they are arepa arepa pa pases teR es or gates tes and the spirit of the basket comes comee and goes there through To 10 sty SI nr at the these e patterns represent ent mountains lakes laks Iak s or rivers men and women deer or other mammals flying birds birda or r bird tracks snakes fishes fish insects flowers ers and plants heavenly bodies bod or articles of use and worship merely is 18 but bu a 8 fraction tra tion of the truth They are Concrete standing s not for all allor allor allor or any fIr r one and underneath them te Is Jno tut DItt it cli r folklore A At te pattern on a Wash Yash Washington WashIngton I ington 4 basket was supposed to represent ripples but on patient in inquiry Inquiry it was found to maan ma n the subtle movements in the under tinder waters of a n certain lake upon a 8 special occasion To appreciate the th symbolism fully one must know the sign hear the th story and then study the skies the landscape l and the social environment An al alphabet alphabet ph bet to this primitive art work would be useless usel for tor each tribe adapts old and standard forms to its own con concepts concepts concepts and myths The artists alone in every case can interpret them Indian basketry Is either cither with the fingers or sewed with an awl or needle It Is the needle or point basketry to use a 8 lace makers term that is I under consideration here You will find it in northern Africa in the soft thick ware of the Moors in Slam Starn done in rattan wherein ln the regular glossy glo y conspires con with the small delicate hand of ot the artist but in per perfection only in California There var varied led materials take away the monotony of Africa and Asia Different colored materials dyes and pigments over oer overlaying overlaying laying and work feather and quill l work shells shen and bead work and above all the primitive mythology dominating the ornamentation pro produce produce product duce duct the myriad effects over which the collector is 18 ia In ecstasies Coiled basket basketry ry is IB a mosaic mo alc i tire the elements being stitches all alt of the he s me width and length The marvel is that such sich bold boid j effects as 8 clouds flames fiam g mountain chains and water are successfully sU pro produced produced produced within these limits A fascination fascination tion in all good pieces exists through uniformity and regularity of foundation foundation tion and sewing Some of ot the Porno Washoe and Apache pieces are almost miracles of o unity in varIety The most delicately tely woven coiled basket in the world orld is the Ute wo k of a woman living oft on Russian river m California Her Hr name is and nd If she had liv U lived d long ago she would have been OUI ous of or the dryads for all allwood allwood wood lore is hs h she knows knos where the slender willows illoS grow and can see be beneath ben neath n the ground gr und the tough white roots of the sedge worked seven month n continuously on the lit Ht little tte tle treasure no n bIgger than a pint jInt Int cup cun cu Which is now kt In the National museum It Jt is beyond be ond all II price this basket for forthe forthe forthe the magic in i stubby fingers Is an unequaled ed gift that will die dieth with th her herThe herThe The foundation of the basket Is of willow rods and the sewing is done no net nEK with linen thread as you would suppose but with roots split so fine I that in m some parts there are sixty stitches to the inch The design Is the pictograph of a feast at which Kesh bim would give this basket b ket to her daV dr daVest est friend demanding something equally precious 6 in return On the bottom are black and white squares in checker work These represent the mats mitts that she will spread on the ground at the feast Tha band gf tf rhomboid figures figur s round around the bottom is the roof roo of ot the dance lance lodge with raft raf rafters rafters t tem ers em crossed and interlaced The human figures about the top rop are and her hel friends men and women dane dancing dancing ing and celebrating the or cr acorn acom harvest Another of the museum treasures more striking to the eye than Kesh buns bims work fe jf i the basket in which a Porno Indian woman caught the sun It ItIs ItIs ItIs Is not to be understood that she ac actually actually actually placed the orb of day dy d y in this slender receptacle holding half a peek peck pe k but she strips the sun of his brilliancy which she site fixes on her basket In bands of feathers leathers Not with without wIthout without out toilsome tolls toUs me marches mar hes over many weary miles did she gather the material for tor her gift to the great sun god goo In the first place there must be a special kind of willow shoots for the foundation Nothing would offend her pride so much as to suggest t that some other sr nearer at hand would suffice She counts not the miles where the Hinds willow grows For her ateo there th re must be sedge root the Mendocino sedge because it makes such delicate splints and nd filaments and its ita fiber has all aU tones of brown color With this much preparation for foran foran an ordinary basket ba ket she could get fet to work at once on e but her kind of ot em era emm r y or overlaying demands dS that re elements of ornamentation must m t her side and ana laid on as she pro I Iq q 6 Beads are to be cut from pet p t ty y es Disks of shell or wampum and carving from the abalone stand standing stan big ing hg foi tOl o money mone r or real reul value exact long Journeys over mountain trails trolls to the th seashore The shells must be broKen bro into s saIl nail bits etch each ch one ope has haa to tobe tobe tobe be perforated with the native drill and then a 8 hundred of theae these pieces are I strung land rubbed round between two I flat fiat stones to give them absolute uni uniformity With infinite filing and scrap scraping ing in the th e 10 n shell sheil discloses s its iri lii iridescence 1 e 4 Delicate te Beautiful 3 Ornamentation As brilliant feathers are indispensable Indispensable sable le to a sun basket the th woodpecker meadow lark crested quail mallard maIt rd jay blackbird oriole and golden eagle with their red yellow blak ble k green blue and mottled plumage all allin allIn in fast colors must mu t be laid under com cOrn compulsory compulsory tribute It is true that before the coming of th tl murderous gun the California Indians lived on n better b terms with the birds but even then Jt it was no easy task to assemble such n or ornithological ornithological ornithological congress congre Now this art is threatened by the trader with his cheap dyes and arid vulgar patterns as awell aswell well as by the land grabbers grabb who drive the basket weavers away from the tho best bes b sources of willow and sedge und and shut c |