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Go directly to: An Apprenticeship in Pomo Weaving An Apprenticeship in Hungarian Folk Music An Apprenticeship in Karuk Basketry Smithsonian Folkways Releases ¡Tierra Caliente! Music from the Hotlands of Michoacán In Memoriam: Vern Williams, 1930-2006 Proceeds from the license plate sales will benefit the California Arts Council (CAC) To subscribe to the weekly CAC update, please visit their website.
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WHAT'S NEWSubscribe to The New Moon, ACTA's Monthly E-Newsletter. See the latest edition of The New Moon. An Apprenticeship in Pomo Weaving
Luwana Quitiquit and Elaine Quitiquit-Palmer. Mari Pongkhamsing, Special Projects Coordinator “It’s really important to be able to focus on your basket. If you aren’t in that positive space and you are working on a basket every little mistake that you make is pretty much an example of how you’re feeling.” -- Elaine Quitiquit-Palmer, Apprentice For the last four months Pomo basketweaver Luwana Quitiquit has been teaching her niece Elaine Quitiquit-Palmer to weave Pomo baby cradles. As a participant in ACTA’s Apprenticeship Program, Elaine is learning to make two different types of Pomo baby cradles, a Lake County style and a Mendocino County style. The Lake County cradles are rocking cradles so they are rounder, while the Mendocino County cradles are flatter in the back. Both types can be tied on a mother’s back or made into a swing for an older child. Luwana explained that people used to tie the cradles in a tree while they worked so that the baby could see the world from the same level as adults do. The cradles are made from willow shoots that are woven together with cotton thread. Red willow bark adds design. Traditionally, the designed cradles were for boys while plain cradles were for girls, but now most people prefer the more colorful cradles. At the head of the cradle the weavers add a sturdy black walnut hoop and inside the cradle are hand woven ties that secure the child and keep them safe. If a baby fell or rolled while they were tied into the cradle the walnut hoop would protect them. Luwana usually also includes a little mattress inside for the baby, dies her thread to add color, and includes fringe and abalone shell for decoration. Before cotton thread became widely available, Pomo women would spin cordage out of dogbane fibers. They would use the cordage in their baby cradles as well as headdresses, dance skirts, and purses. Luwana and Elaine would like to make a miniature cradle using cordage to show people what the cradles used to look like. Elaine and Luwana are also visiting museums to study the Pomo baby cradles and get inspiration for their own work.
Luwana Quitiquit weaving a Pomo baby cradle. Elaine is working on a miniature cradle to practice before she starts a full size one. She explained that it’s difficult to learn to hold the willow sticks in place while pulling the thread tightly at the same time. A weaver has to have strong hands, and traditionally it was men who wove baby cradles. Elaine also explained that the weaver’s attitude really affects the basket. She explained, “It’s really important to be able to focus on your basket. If you aren’t in that positive space and you are working on a basket every little mistake that you make is pretty much an example of how you’re feeling.” Luwana became interested in learning basketweaving when she was a student at the University of California at Berkeley. She would travel eighty miles to study with renowned Pomo basketweaver Mabel McKay. As a student who was also raising a family, it was difficult for her to find time for weaving but she was determined to learn. Luwana explained, “I took it upon myself to do it because in this day and age if you have no interest, you’re not going to learn. Nobody’s going to come up to you and say, ‘You know I want you to learn how to make a Pomo basket.’ You have to be self-motivated and you have to seek the people because they’re not there anymore. That’s why I do what I do to make it easier for people in my tribe to come to me.” When Luwana retired and finished raising her family she decided to dedicate her life to teaching basketry. She has also started a native nursery where she cultivates native plants needed for weaving because these materials have become scarce in the region. Because there are few Pomo weavers left, Luwana explained that one of her main goals is to make sure that her students also learn to be instructors so that they can go out and teach. She teaches seven representatives from the seven Lake County Pomo tribes. These representatives return to their tribes and show what they have learned. Luwana hopes that Elaine will also be able to teach and share what she has learned with her daughter. Elaine became interested in basketry as a student at Humboldt State University. She took a basketry class with renowned weaver Susan Burdick and learned to make Yurok style baskets. She also learned to make Miwok style coil baskets from Julia Parker at a California Indian Basketweaver’s gathering but she explained, ““It became clear to me that I needed to learn Pomo style for myself and for my family.” She now travels nearly two hundred miles to study with her aunt. After she learns to weave baby cradles she would like to learn the Pomo coil basket technique. An Apprenticeship in Hungarian Folk Music
Ferenc and Marika Tobak Mari Pongkhamsing, Special Projects Coordinator, ACTA Marika Tobak has been playing the furulya, or 6-holed Hungarian fipple flute, since she was nine years old, but now she is spending a year studying traditional folk music intensely with her father, Ferenc Tobak. As a participant in ACTA’s Apprenticeship Program, Marika is studying a repertoire of dance songs from the Gyimes region of Transylvania. She also learns about the cultural context of the rural Hungarian music and she has the opportunity to learn some of the traditional folk dances from her mother. Her older brother Ferro studied Hungarian bagpipes through the Apprenticeship Program six years ago, and her younger brother Zoli is already an accomplished percussionist. When Ferenc Tobak was growing up, his mother and grandparents were always singing folk songs; music was a part of every day life. His uncle was a professional musician so family gatherings were usually musical events. When he was in his twenties Tobak found bagpipe music on a trip to Bulgaria and brought a bagpipe back with him to Hungary. He discovered that though bagpipe music had died out in the region where he grew up, it still lived in people’s memories. Determined to learn he sought out bagpipe teachers and studied musical recordings and books. He also began to make bagpipes and became a professional musician. Over the years he has won several first place awards in national folk art competitions in Hungary for his bagpipes. He returns regularly to rural villages in Transylvania and Moldavia, Romania, to research traditional bagpipe music and contact some of the few remaining Hungarian bagpipers. Since moving to the United States he has taught his children to play Hungarian folk music and they now perform together as a family. The music that Marika is now learning was usually played at informal gatherings. Girls used to sing while they were spinning yarn in the afternoons and boys would bring their instruments to join them. Sometimes in the evenings these gatherings would become dance parties. The Tobak family also plays music together spontaneously as a part of every day family life. In addition to learning a specific musical repertoire, Ferenc is teaching Marika advanced blowing techniques on the furulya. She is learning to make longer notes waver by pushing air in and out to “shake” the flute. If this is done right the musician can play two octaves at the same time. She is also learning to hum into the flute. The musician can hum with the melody or just drone on one note. When “shaking” the flute and humming, a musician can play three different notes at the same time. In addition to the furulya, Marika began studying the classical flute five years ago. She also plays bass guitar and piano. Marika explained that she will always play Hungarian music, but her professional goal is to become a composer. This summer she attended Grammy Camp near Los Angeles, a program that teaches high school students about the music industry, and decided that she would like to pursue a career in film scoring. Her parents are pleased that they can hear the traditional Hungarian influence in her classical music compositions. An Apprenticeship in Karuk Basketry
LaVerne Glaze and Laura Sanders Mari Pongkhamsing, Special Projects Coordinator, ACTA Laura Sanders has been studying Karuk basketweaving with LaVerne Glaze for more than ten years, but now as a participant in ACTA’s Apprenticeship Program she is spending a year working intensively to make her first full-size basket. Because she has chosen to make an acorn soup basket, the basket must be woven tightly enough to hold liquid. To start the process of making the basket she and LaVerne went to the coast to gather spruce root, but before they could use it for weaving, they had to strip it with a knife to make it fine and smooth. The materials preparation process can take as long as weaving the basket itself. LaVerne explained that sometimes it can take a whole year just to gather all the materials for one basket. They use a twining technique to weave the basket and add bear grass to create a simple design. Traditionally, acorn soup baskets have less design than other types of baskets. Glaze learned to gather and prepare materials and weave baskets over thirty years ago from two renowned weavers, Ella Johnson and Lee Peters. When Glaze made a mistake her teacher would have her rip it out until it was done right. After finishing her first acorn soup basket she waited anxiously as they filled it because she didn’t think it would really hold soup, but to her surprise it did. Now she teaches weaving at local elementary schools and she offers classes to adults at her home every Sunday. This year three of her elementary school students were invited to a statewide academic competition to present their project on the history of basketweaving and the California Indian Basketweavers Association. Glaze also works with the Environmental Protection Agency and the USDA Forest Service to manage the native plants that the tribe gathers for weaving. In 1978, local weavers convinced Caltrans to stop spraying pesticides along local highways so that they could safely use plants growing near the highways. This is essential for the weavers’ health because they have to put materials in their mouth in the process of materials preparation – placing materials between the teeth while both hands work to strip away the bark. Glaze also helps cultivate weaving materials in the local native plant garden.
Laura Sanders shows the acorn soup basket that she is weaving. Laura Sanders first learned to weave when Glaze taught at her elementary school. She continued to work with Glaze, who is her grandmother’s cousin, learning to weave miniature baskets. Glaze and Sanders have demonstrated together at the Boy Scouts Jamboree in Washington D.C., and at the USDA Forest Service Following the Smoke Basket Camp in Northern California. This summer Laura also participated in the Smithsonian Folklife Festival Carriers of Culture program, granting her the opportunity to demonstrate for thousands of festival visitors and study baskets at local museums. When their acorn soup baskets are finished, Sanders and Glaze plan to show them at the California Indian Basketweavers Association Gathering showcase and at the Heard Museum in Phoenix. Sanders plans to continue to work with Glaze; after she finishes her acorn soup basket she would like to make a ceremonial cap. Smithsonian Folkways Releases ¡Tierra Caliente! Music from the Hotlands of Michoacán
Arpex members include Miguel Prado Mora (arpa grande), Arnoldo Galván (violin), Arcadio Garcia Ortiz (tamboreador), Román Isabel Ramos Gómez (vihuela), and Rafael and Javier Valdovinos Acevedo (vocals), playing violin and guitarra de golpe, respectively. The members are from Mexico, but now call Merced, California home and perform regularly throughout California, Nevada, Washington and beyond. The album is part of the “Tradiciónes/Traditions” recording series, a component of the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage’s Nuestra Música project that explores Latino culture through music in recordings and Smithsonian Folklife Festival Programs. In Memoriam: Vern Williams, 1930-2006Vern Williams, a tenor singer and mandolin player who was instrumental in introducing bluegrass music to California, passed away in June. Williams, 75, was a longtime resident of Valley Springs, east of Sacramento. Raised in Newton County, Arkansas he moved to California in 1952 as a Marine Corps draftee. He may be best known for his historic 1960s Starday recordings with Ray Parks. Their Stockton, Ca.-based duo featured Vern Williams (mandolin) and Ray Park (guitar, fiddle). After meeting in Stockton in 1959, Vern and Ray formed a band called the Carroll County Country Boys. They recorded several singles. Herb Pederson played banjo with them. After they broke up in 1974, Vern formed The Vern Williams Band with his son Delbert and banjo player Keith Little. The 1970 vinyl album recorded with Park “Sounds From the Ozarks” is now a bluegrass collectors’ item and his last CD “Vern and Ray with Herb Pedersen: San Francisco 1968,” a live recording made at a San Francisco State folk festival, was released in May on the Arhoolie Records label. According to the San Francisco Chronicle , "Every musician who grew up playing bluegrass in the Bay Area in the '60s and '70s was influenced by Vern and Ray and later the Vern Williams Band," said Tom Diamant, a record producer and host of "Panhandle Country," a bluegrass and Western swing country music show on KPFA-FM in Berkeley. "Anybody who plays bluegrass and sings the tenor part has been influenced by him. He was one of the greatest tenor singers in history." Vern Williams is survived by his wife Marjory, his son Delbert, daughters Brenda Williams and Gloria Austin, and three grandchildren. A website was created and is maintained by the family of Vern Williams to preserve the “memory of Vern... husband, dad, grandpa, friend to many and amazing bluegrass musician.” Coming up on September 24, the Vern Williams Memorial Concert will take place in Berkeley at the Freight and Salvage where an esteemed lineup of bluegrass veterans join forces to celebrate the memory of Vern Williams. Former bandmates of Vern, as well as musicians who have been influenced by his music, take the stage in spotlighting his great repertoire and memorable style. On hand for the festivities are Herb Pedersen, Larry Park (the son of Vern's former duo partner, the late Ray Park), Butch Waller and High Country, the Kathy Kallick Band, the Pine Valley Boys, and True Blue with Del Williams (Vern's son), plus Mayne Smith, Eric Thompson, Scott Hambly, and others.
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