The Cultural Conservancy - California Indian Basket Projects
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| Photo by L. Frank |
Many Native American basket collections have been undervalued, neglected, and are inaccessible. Many are not available to non-academic interested communities, such as traditional tribal practitioners, artists, students, and the general public. When exhibited, these basket collections are often interpreted by experts from other cultures, rather than by practitioners of the cultures represented by the art. By having participation by Native American artists and Native American students and faculty in basket collection care and interpretation, we will more accurately reflect and respect the cultures represented in the collection.
In 2008 – 2010, the Cultural Conservancy co-sponsored and supported the SFSU California Indian Basket Project, Phase I. This project was partially funded by the San Francisco Arts Commission. With initial outreach by Mariana Ferreira, professor of Anthropology, we developed this multi-faceted project. In collaboration with the American Indian Studies Department and the Treganza Anthropology Museum, TCC supported tribal artists Kathy Wallace and L. Frank Manriquez in leading the cleaning, documentation, and archiving of a unique collection of California Indian baskets housed in the Treganza Museum. Our long-term plan is to prepare the collection in order to create an exhibit that will benefit not only the campus faculty, staff, and students, but also the larger community and school children. Our curatorial vision is to use the latest techniques and information to archive, exhibit, and interpret the basket collection to benefit these diverse communities. Further funding is required to accomplish these long-term goals.
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| Photo by L. Frank |
SFSU California Indian Basket Project, Phase I
The first phase of this project was completed in 2010 and furthered TCC’s mission of revitalizing indigenous cultures and their ancestral lands by re-connecting California Indian community members with samples of their cultural art traditions, previously unavailable to them. This encouraged new interest in and respect for California Indian artistic traditions. Through access to this basket collection, California Indian artists and students were exposed to and learned about the different types of baskets made, the natural materials used, and the designs and forms employed. Additionally, this project furthered our goals of creating reciprocal partnerships between native and non-native organizations and institutions to dispel negative stereotypes and misinterpretations of Native cultures. Interpretation of the collection and its relationship to the environment also furthered our goals of educating the public about the traditional environmental knowledge of Native Americans.
It is very unusual to have a Native American basket collection made available for Native American artists and educators to have input on its use. This project represented a rare collaboration between two academic departments, American Indian Studies and Anthropology, two departments who have historically had many philosophical differences and conflicts over cultural property and definitions of art and culture. In addition to this unique inter-departmental collaboration, it was a collaboration between an academic institution, SFSU, and a community-based organization, The Cultural Conservancy, where Native American community leaders and academic scholars work side by side. It was also significant because this California Indian basket collection was made more accessible to Native community members, tribal scholars, and students wanting to learn about the California Native American basketry art tradition.
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| Photo by L. Frank |
Although challenging, time-consuming, and under-funded, the first phase of this project was successful accomplished largely by the volunteer work of California Indian tribal scholars Kathy Wallace, L. Frank, and three student interns, April McGill (Pomo/Wappo/Wailaki/Yuki), Michelle Rodriquez (Chuckansi) and Michelle Moriera.
Although much needs to be done to finish the long-term goals the following has been achieved:
- Baskets - secure, preliminarily cleaned, correctly stored in cabinets
- Photo documentation completed and stored in database
- Cataloging complete and ready for consultation
- Students have completed their tasks and reported on their positive experiences working on the basket project
- Some of the Native American community have been initially approached and want copies of DVDs to preview and edit. Volunteers have been identified from that community.
- More SFSU and community are aware of the collection located at SFSU and are asking to be able to access it for research and education.
- Reports have been given to the Chair of Anthropology of ongoing process and plans for future work.
- Depending on university re-organizations currently underway, we would like to secure additional support to continue working on this important California Indian basket collection.
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| Photo by L. Frank |
Baby Basket Project
Under the direction of L. Frank and with initial funding from the Seventh Generation Fund, this project will work with California Indian basket weavers to create tribally-specific baby basket for California Indian babies in foster homes.