OR. COLL.
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78
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S66
April 1,
1998
APRIL 1, 1998
Bronze basket replicas on display in Hillsboro
In the late 1870's, a minister from Kentucky
named Robert Summers travelled to Oregon and
began collecting artifacts. He recorded where they
came from and what they were used for, and pre
served them. Among his acquisitions were two
traditional baskets, used in conjunction with one
another to harvest a number of seeds and grains,
now on display in the British Museum. Two repli
cas of the baskets were recently cast in bronze and
displayed at the Grand Ronde Community Center
before reaching their final destination in Hillsboro.
The larger of the two, known as a burden basket,
was worn on the back, and held with a headband
around the forehead. The burden basket was used
to place items collected in harvesting.
The smaller of the two baskets, known as a seed
fan, really wasn't a basket at all. It was more like
a paddle, one used for knocking seeds loose from
seed-bearing plants, like tarweed, into burden bas
kets. Made of loosely woven willow fronds, it was
similar in scale to a tennis racket, and similar in
appearance to a snowshoe.
Hillsboro Central Station, at Third and Washing
ton, is the setting for an informal people's history
of Washington County. One of the main art
projects, "Niches" features a selection of cast
bronze objects and photos etched in glass that evoke
the lives of local people past and present from their
niches in the main station building. The burden
basket and seed fan are two of ten objects selected
to be cast in bronze for this project.
The Westside MAX Public Art Program added
the vision of over 20 artists to the planning and
design of the light rail system, resulting in over
Vwi ' T I A J V-v
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Artists and representatives from Tri-Met pose with Kathryn Harrison during their visit to the
Tribe on March 10 for a showing of two tribal bronze basket replicas.
100 art elements along the Westside Line.
After artists had decided which baskets to use,
they approached Sophie George, a basket weaver
from the Yakima Tribe, to create reproductions
that could be cast in bronze. Sophie was able to
reproduce the burden basket from a photo taken
of the piece at the British Museum in London.
In order to share her basket-making knowledge
with others, Sophie returned to Grand Ronde to
teach two basketry classes, which were attended
by everyone from grade school children to re
spected Elders. Through these classes and other
outreach efforts involving basket-weaving, some
of the Elders became interested in the Niches
project. They requested to view the casting of the
bronze replica basket. As a result, five Grand
Ronde Elders came to the foundry to bless the cast
ing. Last month the completed bronze baskets
made a stop at the Community Center before mak
ing their way back to Hillsboro.
Grand Ronde Community Water Association holds annual meeting
Tribal issues become hot topic in meeting discussions
The Grand Ronde Community Water Associa
tion held its annual meeting on March 12. During
the meeting an official of the Association reported
to its membership that a lawsuit between the Con
federated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community
of Oregon and the Association could impact the
future operations of the Association. Some Asso
ciation members in the audience asked for more
information about the lawsuit. Officials of the Tribe
attending the annual meeting were surprised when
this issue was brought up since it was not on the
agenda for the meeting and tribal officials were
not notified prior to the meeting.
After the discussion about the lawsuit, Francis
Somday, Executive Officer for the Tribe, informed
the attendees that the Tribe had not filed a lawsuit
against the Water Association and was unaware of
any lawsuit unless the Water Association had filed
a lawsuit against the Tribe. Somday asked that the
minutes of the meeting accurately reflect the status
of the dispute. The Board Chairman concurred
that a lawsuit has not been filed by either party.
Somday also reported that the Tribe had submitted
a proposal to the Association Board over a month
ago that would settle the dispute. The Tribe has
not received a response from the Association re
garding its proposal.
There is indeed a dispute, not a lawsuit, between
the Tribe and the Grand Ronde Community Water
Association. The dispute involves the tribal manu
factured housing development known as Grand
Meadows. The Tribe developed the park with the
understanding that the Association would provide
one hook-up to the park at the Association's nor
mal charge for one hook-up. Upon completion of
the park development the Association sent a bill to
the Tribe for thirty-seven hook-ups rather than a
bill for the one hook-up provided by the Associa
tion. In addition, the Tribe was told by the Asso
ciation that the Tribe would be allowed a single
membership rather than thirty-seven memberships.
In other words, the Tribe was being asked to pay a
full hook-up fee for each home in the park when it
received only one hook-up and only be allowed one
membership and one vote on Association issues. The
Tribe contends that these actions violate the Asso
ciations' current by-laws. Tribal officials point out
that the Association Board should have notified the
Tribe during the planning and discussion stages of
the project if they were going to deviate from their
current by-laws and normal practices and not when
the project was nearly complete.
In an attempt to settle this dispute between the
parties the Association Board met with officials of
the Tribe and offered a compromise settlement.
The Tribe reviewed the proposal and submitted its
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