10
S moke S ignals
JUNE 1, 2018
Basket ace
Tribal Elder Connie Graves practices the traditional Kalapuyan art
By Danielle Frost
Smoke Signals staff writer
Twenty years ago, Tribal Elder
Connie Graves could count the
number of known Kalapuyan Trib-
al basket makers on one hand, or
more precisely, one finger.
“It was just me,” Graves, 62, says.
“There was no one else left that I
knew of.”
Today, thanks largely in part to
Graves’ teaching, there are several
Tribal members who have learned
the art of basketry, which is as
much about the traditional gath-
ering and preparation of materials
as it is about making the baskets.
“When students first come to my
class I tell them that two-thirds of
the work has already been done:
The gathering and preparing of
basket materials,” Graves says.
“Roots like cedar and spruce are
the most time consuming.”
Using cedar and spruce roots in
basketry includes digging them up,
steaming the roots, peeling off the
bark, seasoning it for a year and then
soaking it, splitting it down as many
as eight times and then conditioning
it into strips by running it over the
back of the dull edge of a knife to get
a flat ribbon. From there, the strips
are woven into a basket.
One of the easiest and most
diverse materials to work with is
cattails, Graves says.
“You can dry it out and use it
right away,” she says. “Cattails
grow everywhere, especially along-
side the road, but I caution people
not to gather stuff along the high-
way. … I like the idea that you can
take something people consider
yard debris or burn pile stuff and
make something out of it.”
Graves says that the cedar bark
hats seen on participants of Canoe
Journey or at powwows came about
because of a class she taught sever-
al years ago.
“It was close to 15 years ago when
I taught the class and there were
five people there,” she says. “From
that class, all of the hats you see are
a result of that class, and those five
people teaching others. When I open
the paper and see that they have
the hats on, it makes me feel like a
proud parent. It is exciting to me.”
Graves has been a crafter her
entire life and recalls hours and
days spent as a youth working
on different creations. Thirty-five
years ago, she decided to take her
first basket-weaving class.
“I had just quit my job as a dental
assistant and was doing lots of hob-
bies and crafts,” she says. “I found
a lady teaching basket-weaving in
Aloha. When I left there, I told my
husband I had found the thing I
was born to do.”
Initially, Graves used purchased
Tribal Elder and basket weaver
Connie Graves helps Aiden Campbell
weave a coaster out of cattail as she
teaches a class during the Chinuk
Wawa Family Language Retreat held
at achaf-hammi in August 2016.
Photo by Michelle Alaimo
Tribal Elder and basket weaver Connie Graves displays one of her favorite
projects, a traditional outfit she made for a doll. The outfit includes a pounded
cedar bark skirt, cape and hat, river otter fur and shoes made of cattail.
materials from a craft store but
soon became interested in Tribal
basketry.
Graves is a descendant of the
Riggs family. Her great-grandpar-
ents were Andrew and Amanda
Riggs. Her grandmother was Hat-
tie Riggs (Strom). Parents Dick
and Violet Zimbrick live in Grand
Ronde.
She lives in Sheridan with her
husband of 38 years, Randon.
“My great-grandparents and
grandma spoke the Native lan-
guage, but not to us,” she says.
“Today it may sound awful, but I
think my grandma wanted us to be
white. My sister was blond-haired
and blue-eyed, and my grandma
could not have been more elated.
A lot of that comes from the fact
that she was taken away and sent
to Chemawa. It was easier to fit in
back then if you were white.”
The result of the assimilation was
that little information remained
that Graves could use to learn the
art of basketry.
“My grandma was one of 18 chil-
dren and I had great aunts that
were basket makers, but they had
passed away years before,” she
says. “Other people gave me bits
and pieces about how to gather
materials and I also learned as I
went along.”
After the Tribe’s Cultural Re-
sources Department formed,
Graves was approached to teach
classes. However, she lacked for-
mal instruction so the department
provided instructions from ethno-
botanists, biologists and a master
basket maker.
Graves has been teaching the
past 20 years and has had students
ranging in age from preschoolers
to Elders.
“For me, teaching is as much
about how it is done as it is about
Smoke Signals file photo
the end product,” she says. “That is
what also drives me and my curios-
ity to learn more.”
A project Graves is most proud of is
the traditional outfit she made for a
doll. It includes a pounded cedar bark
dress and hat with river otter fur,
and shoes made from cattails. The
beads and shells that adorn the dress
were collected from the Oregon coast.
“It took me at least 20 hours to
make this,” Graves says. “I did it to
show an example of how traditional
dress would have looked. We didn’t
wear moccasins or anything that
was leather because it would have
gotten soaked. We wore things that
were made from natural materials.”
For example, a cedar bark hat
served dual purposes: In the win-
ter when the heavy rains came, it
swelled and was airtight. In the
summer, it provided ventilation
and protection from the sun.
Graves’ skills have resulted in
her work being on permanent dis-
play at the Hallie Ford Museum of
Art in Salem, the Oregon Historical
Society Museum in Portland, the
Tualatin Wildlife Sanctuary and
Champoeg State Park Museum.
She also worked for the Oregon
Historical Society for three years,
visiting fifth-grade classrooms and
talking about basketry.
Cultural Education Specialist
and frequent class participant Flic-
ka Lucero describes Graves as very
patient and helpful.
“She is very good at reminding
us of the first and last steps in the
process, and is also very encour-
aging and makes it really fun,”
Lucero says.
Lucero began taking classes from
Graves two years ago.
“It has become a passion for me,”
she says. “Connie has taught many
people and is very well known and
respected. She is a very significant
part of the Tribe and teaching us
basketry.”
Chachalu Museum & Cultural
Center Manager Julie Brown has
known Graves for more than 15
years and recently nominated her
for the national First Peoples Fund
Jennifer Easton Community Spirit
Award. The national honor is given
to artists who embody their cultural
assets in creations and way of life.
Although Graves didn’t win the
award, Brown says she didn’t know
anyone more deserving.
“She is very versatile in her work
and knows the history of basketry
without a formal education,” she
says. “When we talk about lifeways,
she practices those in her basketry.
She walks the talk.”
Brown says that Graves has an
ability to connect with students not
only on the technical aspects of bas-
ketry and weaving, but also helps
teach them in a way that honors the
past while making a connection to
building the future.
“She is very engaging and I con-
sider her to be a master basket
maker,” Brown says. “She is so
dedicated to passing her knowledge
to whomever will receive it.”