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Southwest Baskets
Southwest Baskets - The spectacular natural beauty of Arizona, New Mexico and southern Colorado and Utah comprises the American Southwest and gave birth to Southwest baskets. This area plays host to a spectrum of environments – vast barren deserts, towering forest-covered mountains, deep river-cut canyons, oddly shaped buttes and steep, flat-topped mesas. The Native American cultures that inhabited this region are ancient. Two of the three major early cultures of the region, the Hohokam (present-day southern Arizona) and the Anasazi (occupying the Four Corners region) were peaceful and sophisticated farmers who grew corn and other sun-loving crops in irrigated desert fields. The Native American cultures of the southwest were the least impacted by contact with whites of any Native American culture. The land was perceived by white settlers and developers as less desirable because the largely desert land was poor agriculturally.
Southwest basket makers were masters of coiling techniques, the dominant southwestern type as long ago as 2000 B.C. And, 4,000 years later, the flat circular plaques and trays, shallow ceremonial bowls, and bulging urn-shaped storage jars remain closely identified as Southwest Baskets. Coiled baskets were made either from willow-like rods, or from bundles of grass or other thin plant fibers such as cattail, wheat straw or yucca. The coils were held together with stitching and by adding colored material to the stitching; the basket maker could create patterns and overall designs. The Pima and Papago of southwest Arizona are among the most talented basket makers of the Southwest, producing baskets similar to those of the ancient Anasazi. Their most notable pieces are highly ornate coiled food bowls and winnowing trays. Their baskets characteristically have a black circle at the center from which extended whirling abstract geometric designs and finished with a black rim.
Among the Pueblo peoples, the Hopi have created the best-known baskets; they are so familiar that they represent southwestern basket making for many people. Yet, these pieces differ from the work of other tribes and have no obvious connections to Anasazi or other early southwestern baskets. The two most common techniques used are coiling and wicker. Their most familiar basket form is the flat circular plaque, typically decorated with geometric designs representing rain, clouds, and other natural forces or with kachinas, the Hopi spirit figures. The Hopi people’s determination to follow their traditional way of life has helped shield their basket making tradition from the often-degenerative influences of today’s marketplace. Since the Hopi continue to make their baskets not only for themselves as well as for sale to tourists, this tradition is still an integral part of their culture and identity.
Although the Hopi’s pieces are better known to the public, some believe the finest post-contact basket makers in the Southwest are the Western Apache. These people originated in Canada and migrated to the Southwest about 500 years ago. The Western Apache were highly dependent on basketry since they had no pottery tradition. They probably learned basket making from the Pueblos. The dominant Western Apache basket forms were shallow bowls made for household use and large ollas (storage jars). As an aside, the olla was used to store grain. The olla is the most valuable of all Apache baskets with larger well-balanced pieces bringing on average tens of thousands of dollars (symmetry, size, polychrome and display multi-figures).
The crafting traditions behind Southwest Baskets are threatened today not only by cultural influences by also by pressures on the environment. The natural materials are increasingly hard to find and basket makers may have to travel many miles to gather the plants. On top of that, the plants are regarded by some people as weeds and are treated with herbicides. Some links that may be of interest: Hopi Baskets, Basic Basket Weaves Hopi Baskets, Manufacture and Decoration Tohono O’dham Basketweavers Organization Native People: Akimel O’odham / Pima Return from Southwest Baskets to Native American Indian Baskets
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