LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – American Indians of Lake County and what is now the United States created many varieties of baskets, but the supreme basket makers were the Pomo Indians of Lake and Sonoma counties.
The ancient art of basket making was elevated to a new level by the skilled Pomo Indian basket weavers.
Dr. Greg Sarris, tribal chairman of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, wrote about the world-renowned basket weaver Mabel McKay in his book, “Mabel McKay: Weaving the Dream,” part of his “Portraits of American Genius” series.
In his book he painstakingly extracts profound truths from McKay, the famed elder basket weaver. He drew out her genius with ongoing conversations and through close contact over time.
McKay was a basket weaver who helped keep the dying tradition alive within her Pomo culture. She gave a lifetime of lessons in showing others the way the spirit heals and speaks through what is called “The Dream.”
Her humble life working in a cannery belies the art that came out in her basketry – baskets so rich and beautiful that they are now found in the Smithsonian Museum.
Sarris – who wrote a blurb on the back of my book, “Anderson Marsh State Historic Park – A Walking History, Prehistory, Flora and Fauna Tour of a California State Park” – found that the story of her life was not a “first this, then that” sort of chronology to be told.
Instead, in order to gain understanding of her dual arts of healing and artistry, he needed to suspend the natural inclinations of a writer to document a chronology, and to enter what was natural for McKay's life in dwelling in the supernatural and spiritual worlds.
In his book, “Weaving the Dream,” he quotes McKay as follows: “I was born in Nice, Lake County, California, 1907, January 12. My mother, Daisy Hansen. My father, Yanta Boone. Grandma raised me. Her name, Sarah Taylor. I followed everywhere with her. I marry once in Sulphur Bank. Second time I marry Charlie McKay. We live in Lake County, then Ukiah, then Santa Rosa. I weave baskets, and show them different places. Have son, Marshall. Now grandkids, too. My tribe, Pomo. There, how's that? That's how I can tell my life for the white people's way. Is that what you want? It's more, my life. It's not only the one thing. It's many. You have to listen. You have to know me to know what I'm talking about.”
The Pomo Indians who once lived at what is now Anderson Marsh were hunter-gatherers. This lifestyle required an array of basketry containers and implements.
There were woven tools for beating the grasses so that they would release their seeds, baskets in which to collect the seeds, special burden baskets for carrying a multitude of items.
Fish traps were constructed of woven materials, along with other woven hunting traps for quail and woodpeckers.
The basket hopper was a funnel in shape, without a bottom in its form, and was set over a mortar to collect acorn meal as it was being prepared. It was often constructed of twined redbud, using a geometric pattern.
A myriad of other baskets were in use in times past, for storing, sifting and even for cooking. Babies were placed in woven cradles, and there were unique and beautiful ceremonial baskets in use then, too.
The materials used for weaving varied from dogwood, white willow, sedge, bulrush and redbud. Tule and grapevine were employed as well.
Certain baskets had feathers woven into them, such as feathers from duck, quail, red-headed woodpecker, Bullock's Oriole and meadowlark.
For more information, and to view beautiful basket specimens, visit our local museums.
Kathleen Scavone, M.A., is an educator, potter, writer and author of “Anderson Marsh State Historic Park: A Walking History, Prehistory, Flora, and Fauna Tour of a California State Park” and “Native Americans of Lake County.” She also writes for NASA and JPL as one of their “Solar System Ambassadors.” She was selected “Lake County Teacher of the Year, 1998-99” by the Lake County Office of Education, and chosen as one of 10 state finalists the same year by the California Department of Education.