Surprises in San Diego: Baskets in Balboa Park Part 1

The Mingei and other museums in Balboa Park.
All photos by Bryn Potter.

Balboa Park is a wonderful cluster of museums in beautiful downtown San Diego, California. I was fortunate to visit on a sunny weekend in late January this year. My usual go-to place for Native American Basketry is the Museum of Us. To see some of their baskets, consult the excellent book Fiber and Forms: Native American Basketry of the West by my friend and retired curator Ken Hedges.1997, Kiva Publishing.

What brought me to Balboa Park this time was the Mingei International Museum's exhibit Over/Under: Woven Craft at Mingei. It was a fun bevy of all types of basketry and woven items from around the world. mingei.org

Bubu, fish traps made of bamboo, wood and rattan.
Luzon province, Philippines, early 20th century.

I've chosen a few of the many interesting baskets shown by the Mingei, see the photo captions for identification.

Indigenous America was represented by a lidded basket of rivercane and dye which was attributed to Rowena Bradley (1922 - 2003), a well known Eastern Band Cherokee weaver. The creator of a fanciful saddled horse from Mexico, twined of chuspata (cattail), was not identified, although animal weavings like this one can be found in Michoacan.  Two glass baskets were included from the Northwest Coast, a bright and fascinating addition to this exhibit which was, of course, dominated by baskets woven from plant fibers. 

Attributed to Rowena
Bradley, Eastern Band
Cherokee, mid 20th century

Chuspata horse from Mexico,
possibly Michoacan, 20th century

Sky Blue Tlingit Glass Basket with 
Orange Lip by Preston Singletary,
Tlingit, blown and sandblasted
glass, 2019

Citron Sweetgrass Glass Basket
with Turquoise Lip by Dan Friday,
Lummi, woven cane mosaic
glass, 2020

A large storage basket coiled of palm
fiber, Botswana, 20th century.

West Africa, 20th century, fiber.