Contemporary Baskets

The weaving of Native American contemporary baskets is one of the oldest of Indian art forms. Fragments of baskets and other weavings are found in the earliest Pueblo sites of the Anasazi, or “ancient ones” who vanished mysteriously leaving behind their empty dwellings, petroglyphs, and remnants of their pottery and baskets. Most agree that the Anasazi were the predecessors of today’s modern Pueblo Indians. Originally Navajo baskets were utilitarian; used for cooking, carrying, winnowing, storage, and ceremony. But as with all utilitarian items of the Native Americans, baskets were also an expression of individual art as well as tribal identity. Being made of organic materials, few of these early American Indian antique baskets survive and few modern basket weavers retain the skills to make them. Indian baskets of today are woven in much the same way as they were a thousand years ago using native materials such as yucca, devil’s claw, willow, and grasses. The tools have also little changed being primarily the awl and the hands of the artisan.