Basket c. 19th century

This basket was woven by an artist from the Yokuts people, using plant fibers. Take a close look at the surface: it’s made of many thousands of tiny stitches, built up slowly from the base. The Yokuts inhabited the San Joaquin Valley in central California, where basketry was a highly developed art form. The women were responsible for this work, employing local materials like willow, tule, and redbud. These were gathered, prepared, and then coiled into shape. The patterns are achieved through a technique called ‘color-differentiated weaving’, using darker strands of the same materials, and give graphic punch to the basket’s rounded form. This wasn’t just a domestic craft, but a sophisticated tradition, integral to the Yokuts’ cultural identity. Such painstaking labor, which might easily be dismissed as ‘minor’ or ‘decorative’, speaks volumes about Indigenous knowledge and the vital relationship between people and place. It challenges us to reconsider our categories of art, and to see how much can be communicated through patient, skillful making.