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Stories and photos
by Brent Merrill
"ative basketry expert Mar
garet Mathewson visited
Grand Ronde on Tuesday,
9 and brought with her a
wealth of information to share
within the community.
Mathewson, who lives on the Oregon Coast in
Alsea, was the first speaker in what will be a se
ries of guest lecturers to visit the Tribe. The speaker
series is being sponsored by the Tribe's Office of
Museum Development.
Margaret Mathewson is a nationally recognized
expert on American Indian basketry," said Lisa
Watt. Watt is the Executive Director of the Tribe's
Office of Museum Development.
Watt said Mathewson works with Tribes by help
ing revive ancient basket making traditions and
methods. Watt, a member of the Seneca Nation who
grew up on the Allegany Reservation in New York,
said Mathewson's expertise is with the plants, ma
terials and techniques of Native basketry.
"She (Mathewson) is a fascinating woman, a
wonderful speaker and she is extremely knowl
edgeable," said Watt.
"Basketry is one of the things that tribal mem
bers can attach themselves to. They can really
identify with it and they understand the value of
it. They understand that it is part of their heri
tage and that it is something that they can revive
in a very healthy, ongoing way."
Just over twenty people attended Mathewson's
lecture in the Tribal Council chambers. A smaller
group had met with her earlier in the day to dis
cuss the baskets she brought for viewing and the
technology involved in making those baskets.
Watt said the smaller, more informal meeting
with Mathewson in the morning was geared to
wards identifying basket types.
Watt introduced Mathewson and Tamsen Fuller
to the audience and said Mathewson's knowledge
"has been, to me, legendary. She has been a God
send for us," said Watt. Fuller is the country's lead
ing expert on American Indian and ethnographic
collections according to Watt.
"People started telling me I had to meet this
woman because she had incredible knowledge and
experience," said Watt of Mathewson. "She is
thought of highly by lots of different tribes."
Watt said Mathewson is unique in that she looks
at basketry from the technology standpoint; she
looks at how the baskets are made, what they are
made from and what types of stitching is used
rather than looking at baskets from an art dealer
perspective which can be very different.
Watt and tribal member Marion Mercier went
to visit Mathewson in Alsea and found her grow
ing her own natural willows and bear grass on
the farm. Watt said Mathewson hosts week-long
seminars in basket weaving at her farmhouse.
The reason for bringing Mathew-son in to speak
is because of the interest by local people in the
community in basketry, Watt said.
"The depth of her knowledge is just so impres
sive," said Watt.
Mathewson showed slides of different types of
FAR LEFT:
Lisa Watt admires
a basket on display
from Margaret
Mathewson.
4 Mathewson shares
basket making
techniques during
her visit to Grand
Ronde.
grasses used in basket making and she showed
the different stitches and weaves used for differ
ent baskets. She talked about methods of season
ing the grasses and she said slow, natural drying
is better than more modern, quicker ways of dry
ing. She showed how different plants were used
to make colors in the baskets. Sea grasses,
Mathewson said, turn jet black when they are
dried.
Mathewson listed sea grass, slew grass, rush
grass, bear grass, fir bark, cedar bark, spruce bark,
pine trees and willow roots as basket making ma
terials. She said baskets were different from re
gion to region.
Kathleen Feehan, of the Tribe's Natural Re
sources department, invited those in attendance
to comment on the Tribe's Ten Year Management
Plan so that the importance of the plants used in
basket making continue to be planted and cared
for.
Watt said future speakers will include Grand
Ronde and Western Oregon basketry expert John
Gogol, Hallie Ford Museum Curator Rebecca
Dobkins and Portland State University professor
Ken Ames.
Watt said she hopes to set up some on-going
classes for tribal members with Mathewson after
the first of the year.
Tribal member embraces old tradition
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Grand Ronde tribal member Marion Mercier (pictured)
believes basket making is an important part of the tribal
culture and she won't let it die or fade away.
Mercier gathers traditional basket making materials
and practices the art of basket making. She said her
only problem is waiting for the various grasses and
roots to dry or season. Mercier said she is eager and
wants to get started on a basket as soon as she gets
the materials together, but she said she is learning to
wait and be more patient.
Mercier listened intently to a lecture from Native bas
ketry expert Margaret Mathewson on Tuesday, Novem
ber 9 about basket making. She asked questions that
showed she had been participating in the traditional
art rather than just studying it.
"I really enjoyed the presentation because I got more
detailed information," said Mercier. "She covers so much
information."
Mercier said she had listened to a lecture Mathewson
gave in the spring and spent the time between lec
tures gathering grasses and roots for her own basket
making.
"She (Mathewson) was able to answer questions
about gathering so I loved being able to participate in
that lecture," said Mercier.
Mercier has lead efforts to work with Oregon State
University on a program to help revive the art, and the
Tribe offered a class in basketry through the OSU.
Twenty-five tribal members learned the twining
method and the coiling method of making baskets
through the class. Mercier said those who continued
have even begun to teach others.
Mercier said she teaches a small group of five people
what she knows about basketry, and Joanne Empey
and Kim Contreras at the Before and After Day Care
are teaching basket making techniques to the children.
"We are all just sharing what we know about bas
ketry and it is really growing to where we have enough
people now that we can form a basket club," said Mer
cier. "I think it is an important art to every Native Ameri
can tribe so that is why it is important to Grand Ronde."
Mercier and others are excited about the Tribe ac
quiring basket and artifact collections now. She said
members who have taken up the art have become
knowledgeable and recognize styles and geographic
distinctions when they view collections.
"Something that is really fascinating about basketry
is when the Tribes were moved here the people brought
that art with them and adapted their materials to what
was here," said Mercier. "Yet, they still made baskets.
All the different baskets had a different purpose."
People interested in the art of basketry should not
be intimidated. Once you learn the methods it is not
that difficult, Mercier said.
"You just have to take the time and sit and do it," she
said. "That is what we don't have enough of is time.
We have people who could be master basket makers,
but we have a lot of people that have to work full time
and aren't going to be able to sit and make baskets."
Mercier looks forward to her future basket making
endeavors and learning as much as she can.
"The more that I get to work with my own materials,
the greater that connection will be with what I'm actu
ally making and I think that is going to be true of all the
people who are going to make baskets," said Mercier
of herself and her fellow basket makers. "You really
have a connectedness in working with the natural material."