Rattlesnake at the Cowboy

In response to closed museums during the COVID-19 pandemic, Tim, head of security at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, has become an internet sensation with his tweets from around the museum.  You can read about Tim here:

https://www.boredpanda.com/national-cowboy-museum-head-of-security-twitter/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_content=stickybar&fbclid=IwAR03rjxDWOhRS9FNxUHK7AWsH-7KGdC-b7wUUlG_qSj0a4ytpL7lLAtajzI


A tweet from Tim on March 20 said, "There's a snake in my boot!"  When I read that, there was only one thing I could think of....

In 2017, I was touring the storage of the Cowboy with wonderful Oklahoma friends. The curator knew I wanted to see the baskets. When he opened the storage cabinet, my eyes immediately went up to the juncus basket, and I said with glee, "Rattlesnake!"

Well, when you're with Oklahomans and say snake, they jump back and look for a weapon.
"Oh," I quickly amended, "not a snake, a basket with a snake!"  We all had a good laugh, and then I had a closer look. This was the beauty that I had spotted on an upper shelf.

Interesting design - two heads, one tail!

Basket storage cabinet, rattlesnake top left.

There it is, I couldn't reach it, but I could point at it!

 It is coiled of natural golden orange-colored juncus (probably Juncus textilis, a type of rush), and juncus that has been dyed black. The light material at the basket's oval start is sumac (Rhus trilobata). The interior foundation of the coil is deer grass (Muhlenbergia rigens). These three materials are used in basketry throughout southern California.

This basket could have been made by a weaver from one of several tribes, but my guess is that she was probably Cahuilla.

Detail of the corners. It's hard to make rectangular baskets when using the coiled technique.
 Coiled baskets are almost always round or oval in shape.
This basket is catalog number 1983-06-67.

Cahuilla basket weaver Rosemarie Salinas "recounts a story about the rattlesnake design that has been told many times. 'A lady was making a basket. A rattlesnake kept coming and bothering her. She kept shooing it away and it kept coming back. Finally she wove it into the basket.' Among the Cahuilla, the mesaxim (rattlesnake) design is a strong symbol, and rattlesnake baskets are widely admired."
["Cahuilla Basketry: An Enduring Legacy" by Bryn Barabas Potter, First American Art Magazine, Issue #4, Fall 2014.]

Charlotte Jensen Native Arts Market 2019, Anchorage

http://firstamericanartmagazine.com/charlotte-jensen/A year ago at this time, end of February/start of March 2019, I was heading home from Anchorage, Alaska and the 84th Annual Fur Rendezvous. What began as a fur trading event has morphed into Rondy, a ten-day celebration of all things Anchorage and Native Alaska, including the ceremonial start of the Iditarod Sled Dog Race.  What had drawn me northward was the Charlotte Jensen Native Arts Market, where I would eventually chat with about two dozen artists.  Most were weavers, as the primary reason for the trip was to research Alaska Native basketry.

John Jensen, Mathew Skaga Dewitt, Bryn, Marilyn Skau

Market co-chairs John Jensen and Marilyn Skau gave me a warm welcome on Thursday morning, day two of the five-day Market. Then Marilyn proceeded to walk me through the maze of tables at the Dimond Center, introducing me to various artists and all of the basket weavers who were at their tables when we passed by. All but one were happy to be interviewed; the one apologized because her eyesight was going and she no longer wove, so she did not feel that she could contribute. Of course she could have! It would have been wonderful to hear her stories, but she was reluctant and I was not pushy.  The next three days were spent talking with as many weavers as I could, sharing tangerines and Sunkist candies which I had brought from California. Regrettably, I was not able to spend time with all of the weavers, and hope to some day return to this event, which is a very important sales venue for Native Alaskan artists.

Marilyn Skau sits on Jeff Swan's carved wooden chair, "The Throne."

Sadly, Marilyn passed later in 2019. She was a well-respected powerhouse, always on the move, cheerfully dealing with the artists' registrations and making sure the Market flowed smoothly. In honor of Marilyn, John, and the Ashlock family who provide the Dimond Center as a service to Native artists, I'd like to share my "Charlotte Jensen Native Arts Market Report" from First American Art Magazine Blog:

http://firstamericanartmagazine.com/charlotte-jensen/