In constant motion
Sherrie Smith-Ferri
Grace Hudson, The Dowry, 1906. Oil on canvas. Collection of the Grace Hudson Museum & Sun House, Ukiah, CA 2019.11.1. Pictures a young bride holding a feather basket and surrounded by particularly valuable baskets gifted at her marriage.
The homelands of Pomo Indian peoples lie in northern California’s oak woodlands, coastal redwood forests and the tule-covered shores of Clear Lake. We are known worldwide for our superlative basketry, employing a full suite of twining, coiling, and wickerwork techniques. This technical virtuosity is not surprising since, in earlier times, baskets were the main tools of Pomo life. Men used baskets to carry heavy loads and to trap fish. Women used them to harvest seeds and grains from native plants, collect nuts, store food stuffs, winnow the husks of acorns from nut meats, pulverize these nut meats into flour, cook this flour into a porridge, and serve it to their families.
Similarly, baskets performed many social functions in the Native community. They cradled babies, and were central to gift exchanges between the families of the bride and groom that cemented their marriage. They played roles in young women’s coming-of-age ceremonies, and were burned as a sign of mourning when someone died. Generally such Pomo baskets were coiled, had intricate designs, and were often heavily decorated. These woven pieces of social currency were created to be things of beauty – admired by others, enjoyed as works of art and as symbols of wealth.
One favorite form of ornamentation involved weaving brightly colored feathers from native song birds into the fabric of the basket. Some Pomo feather baskets are best described as “spot feathered.” Weavers meticulously place small tufts of bright feathers across the basket’s straw-colored design background to enliven it with small spots of color and texture and enhance the basket’s dark designs. More famous, though, are the Pomo baskets entirely covered in feathers, called “jewel baskets” by early non-Native basket admirers.
To make these feathered baskets is a weaving feat demanding skill, patience, and meticulous care. The feathers used are quite small. The weaver takes several of them and spins their quill ends together to form a cluster, so they all lay together at the same angle. This tuft is then tucked under the stitch of the basket, on its outside surface, just before the stitch is cinched down tightly. In making fully feathered baskets, great care is taken to ensure that all of the clusters are aligned and overlapping, so that the feathers lie smoothly, as they do on the body of the bird. Often this involves considerable readjusting and trimming. I remember a weaver, Elenor Stevenson Gonzales, telling me that “if you don’t do the feathers right, the basket will look like an angry cat with its fur sticking out.” A well-made fully feathered basket, on the other hand, has a velvety surface that begs to be stroked.
Suzanne Holder, Pomo feathered basket, woven, ca. 1950. Meadowlark and Mallard feathers, Washington clam shell money beads, abalone shell dangles, and quail top knot feathers. Elsie Allen Collection, Santa Rosa Junior College Multicultural Museum.
Annie Boone (Pomo), Plaque, early 1900s. Plant fiber, feathers, abalone, and clams shell. 3/4" x 10 5/8" (diam.). Denver Art Museum: Gift of R. B. Bernard, 1942.414. Photograph © Denver Art Museum.
