We are pleased to present
another innovative coil basket-doll by Alicia Adams Monroe. Alicia
is the daughter of Hopi master weaver Rhetta Adams, and has quickly
risen to the esteem of her mother's reputation. Alicia is one
of the only weavers we know of who are producing these complex
yucca-coil dolls. They are truly a collector's item!
Basketry is an ancient craft
of the Indian people; it even precedes pottery making. Baskets
used for cooking were lined with clay, and water vessels were
covered with pine pitch. Today basket making has developed into
a fine art, that few Native Americans continue to practice.
Where baskets were once a
common item among all tribes, the art has now disappeared among
many Native Americans, and the handful of weavers that continue
this ancient craft are few and far between.
Hopi basket weavers are considered
some of the best in North America. They produce baskets in three
different techniques.
On Second Mesa the Hopi weavers
specialize in Hopi Coil basketry. Hopi coiled baskets are woven
by wrapping bundles of plant material with a single piece of
plant material usually yucca. The colors are usually limited
to white, yellow, green, red and black. Designs you often find
on these beautiful baskets are Katsina, animals, blanket, and
geometric designs.
On Third Mesa the Hopi weavers
specialize in wicker basketry. They make wicker plaques, cradles
and burden baskets by weaving flexible stems of local plants,
such as rabbit brush, scrub sumac and arroyo willow, over and
under stiffer support stems. There are many colors and designs
used in wicker plaques and baskets.
Women on all three mesas make
plaited sifter baskets. These baskets are made by plaiting yucca
fibers, either natural or dyes, to achieve many designs. Many
of the Hopi wickers, coils, and sifters are used for social or
ceremonial purposes.
"Koyemsi or Mud-head
Kachinas are probably the most well known of all the Hopi kachinas.
They appear in almost every Hopi ceremony as clowns, interocutors,
announcers of dances, drummers, and many other roles.
"The nearly always accompany
other kachinas; probably the only time when they do not appear
with other personages is during the Night Dances.
"Koyemsi are usually
the ones that play games with the audiences to the accompaniment
of rollicking tunes. These games are generally guessing games,
or simple attempts to balance objects or performances of some
common act. They most closely resemble our parlor games and the
rewards are prizes of food or clothing."
- Barton Wright, Kachinas: a Hopi
Artists Documentary (238)
