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Karuk Traditional Basketry
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| Dixie Rogers (left) and Kathy Wallace (right) |
For many California Native Americans the basket weaving process is a way of life that helps maintain connections with fellow tribal members, family members, ancestors, and the land. Basket weaving is an important way to keep their culture alive as weavers gather and process materials, and share their skills and baskets with others. As a child, Kathy Wallace gathered basketry materials with her grandmother and later learned weaving techniques from more experienced weavers in her tribe. She has dedicated her adult life to preserving, promoting, and perpetuating the basketry traditions of the Karuk by teaching and weaving baskets and ceremonial objects to be used by family, friends, and tribal members. Dixie Rogers, a distant cousin of Kathy, had to wait until adulthood to follow her dream of learning to weave baskets. Already noted for the quality and precision of her work after just a few years of weaving, she will make a traditional cooking basket from hazel sticks and Sitka spruce root with a bear grass overlay design.
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Kathy Wallace making a tobacco basket |
Read more about California basketweavers
Read about the the role of Native American basketweavers at the Cache Creek Conservancy