Tʋnna – Woven
Claire Green Young
When Sarah asked me if I would share my perspective on Choctaw basketry for her latest project, I was overwhelmed with gratitude and a feeling of great responsibility. While I am not a weaver, I have found myself in the company of many community members who have shared their knowledge of this practice, and friendship, so generously with me.
As former curator at the Choctaw Cultural Center in Durant, Oklahoma, I learned about historic and contemporary Choctaw basket weaving through the curation of Bok Abaiya: Practiced Hands and the Arts of Choctaw Basketry. Throughout this process, I was fortunate enough to learn from and work with Eveline Steele, an Oklahoma Choctaw basket maker, and Sarah Sense, a Chitimacha and Choctaw weaver of art and stories. For Eveline, Sarah, and myself, the McCurtain County allotment maps (1902, courtesy of the Choctaw Cultural Center) woven into Sarah’s Hinushi series are much more than simple blue papers with little white bordered squares. For us, our very existence is inextricably tied to the land portrayed on those papers.
I grew up in a small community called Herndon in McCurtain County, Oklahoma. My mother, grandparents, and countless cousins continue to live there. As I sifted through the blue allotment maps for the first time, I searched for the land we call home today. Like many other Native people in Oklahoma, much of our original allotment land has been sold and parceled. My mother is lucky enough to have bought back some land belonging to our family’s allotment, but the land of my third and fourth great-grandmothers, Isabelle (James) Herndon and her mother, Janey (Homa) James, is not currently ours. However, finding their names on this paper was like seeing a snapshot in time. For them, these little blue squares were not just shapes on a paper, but rather their lives.
This is also true for women like Fannie (Battiest) Wesley. A woman who grew up and learned to weave rivercane baskets in a small Choctaw community in Louisiana. Fannie moved from Louisiana to Indian Territory in the early twentieth century. A time when allotment was still heavily on the mind of Choctaw people. While people had begun applying for allotments in the 1890s under the 1887 General Allotment Act and 1898 Curtis Act, rolls were not finalized until 1902. Although one goal of allotment was to assimilate tribal citizens and undermine traditional understandings of land and community by forcing individuals to own private property, tribal members continued to find ways to practice Choctaw traditions and pass down this knowledge to the next generation.
In a small McCurtain County town not so distant from my own, Fannie kept Choctaw traditions alive through her weaving. A notable Choctaw basketmaker, Fannie harvested, split, and shaved rivercane for her own baskets and expertly utilized traditional dyes made from plants like black walnut and sassafras to create intricate patterns within her weaving. Choctaw baskets have long served functional purposes, and while some of Fannie’s baskets were household items, others were sold to both tribal members and such notable figures as Clark Field, a Tulsa businessman with a fixation on Native American basketry. Today, Fannie’s baskets can be seen in museum collections across the United States. Although her work garnered much attention in this way, the countless hours she spent teaching this practice to her daughters Elsie (Williams) Battiest and Laura Willie, as well as Laura's sister-in-law, Wilsie Willie, go largely unacknowledged.
Prior to the opening of the Bok Abiaya exhibition, Eveline Steele, Fannie’s granddaughter and Elsie’s daughter, spent many days chatting with me about her family, her own experiences growing up in McCurtain County, and how the women in her family taught her to make baskets. The women in Eveline’s family have passed down this tradition for generations and Eveline has since shared her knowledge of Choctaw basketry with numerous community members, young Choctaw weavers, and her sons, Corey and Kevin Steele. In Oklahoma, Eveline is widely known as the only self-sufficient Choctaw rivercane basket maker. Her knowledge of this process, from start to finish, is unmatched, and her generosity in sharing this knowledge with those of us willing to listen and learn is priceless. Today, her sons continue to weave alongside her and in recent years have begun to make more rivercane baskets themselves.
Like the women before her, Eveline harvests cane where she can find it. Fannie, Elsie, Laura, and Wilsie often harvested rivercane on Mountain Fork River in McCurtain County, Oklahoma. For Oklahoma Choctaw people, land, and this part of southeastern Oklahoma in particular, is deeply connected to the tradition of weaving. At one time, rivercane flourished in this area, but today, the plant is scarcer than ever, adding an additional obstacle for Eveline to overcome. Similarly, the lasting impact of allotment and private property laws is felt throughout the area. Today, original allotment parcels have been sold and divvied up amongst settlers and Choctaw people alike. Much of the land near Mountain Fork River, which is rich with the nutrients needed to grow and foster healthy and mature rivercane for weaving, is now private property. Similarly, other areas with known canebrakes, plots of land where rivercane thrives, are also privately owned. Although all of this land resides within Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma tribal boundaries, Eveline must still seek permission to harvest cane from privately owned land. In an area where her family has long been harvesting cane, Eveline has had to forge relationships with landowners in order to continue the tradition of basketmaking.
Oftentimes, Eveline receives requests for her rivercane baskets from community members, museums, and others in search of Choctaw rivercane baskets. We are blessed that she has the resources and ability to continue sharing her craft. For many of us, generational knowledge of this practice has long been lost. For those of us that are lucky, the occasional family heirloom is passed down from each generation to the next. Like Sarah, I have encountered many Choctaw baskets, but no feeling has compared to that of holding the well-used and well-loved pocket basket of my fourth great grandmother, Janey (Homa) James. While I cannot know if she, her mother before her, or a fellow Choctaw woman wove this basket, I feel the weaver, and each generation who has protected this basket before me, within the woven cane.
Baskets are not just functional items or beautiful objects; they are vessels that continue to hold the memories and energy of those who wove and care for them. For Sarah’s show, Eveline’s practiced hands, filled with generations of knowledge, expertly wove the basket displayed alongside Sarah’s latest work - I Want to Hold You Longer. Here, we see the convergence of traditional Choctaw basketry and contemporary Native American Art. We see how two women with roots in McCurtain County, Oklahoma, continue to preserve the patterns, traditions, and memory of their ancestors through weaving.
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Tʋnna – Woven
Claire Green Young
When Sarah asked me if I would share my perspective on Choctaw basketry for her latest project, I was overwhelmed with gratitude and a feeling of great responsibility. While I am not a weaver, I have found myself in the company of many community members who have shared their knowledge of this practice, and friendship, so generously with me.
As former curator at the Choctaw Cultural Center in Durant, Oklahoma, I learned about historic and contemporary Choctaw basket weaving through the curation of Bok Abaiya: Practiced Hands and the Arts of Choctaw Basketry. Throughout this process, I was fortunate enough to learn from and work with Eveline Steele, an Oklahoma Choctaw basket maker, and Sarah Sense, a Chitimacha and Choctaw weaver of art and stories. For Eveline, Sarah, and myself, the McCurtain County allotment maps (1902, courtesy of the Choctaw Cultural Center) woven into Sarah’s Hinushi series are much more than simple blue papers with little white bordered squares. For us, our very existence is inextricably tied to the land portrayed on those papers.
I grew up in a small community called Herndon in McCurtain County, Oklahoma. My mother, grandparents, and countless cousins continue to live there. As I sifted through the blue allotment maps for the first time, I searched for the land we call home today. Like many other Native people in Oklahoma, much of our original allotment land has been sold and parceled. My mother is lucky enough to have bought back some land belonging to our family’s allotment, but the land of my third and fourth great-grandmothers, Isabelle (James) Herndon and her mother, Janey (Homa) James, is not currently ours. However, finding their names on this paper was like seeing a snapshot in time. For them, these little blue squares were not just shapes on a paper, but rather their lives.
This is also true for women like Fannie (Battiest) Wesley. A woman who grew up and learned to weave rivercane baskets in a small Choctaw community in Louisiana. Fannie moved from Louisiana to Indian Territory in the early twentieth century. A time when allotment was still heavily on the mind of Choctaw people. While people had begun applying for allotments in the 1890s under the 1887 General Allotment Act and 1898 Curtis Act, rolls were not finalized until 1902. Although one goal of allotment was to assimilate tribal citizens and undermine traditional understandings of land and community by forcing individuals to own private property, tribal members continued to find ways to practice Choctaw traditions and pass down this knowledge to the next generation.
In a small McCurtain County town not so distant from my own, Fannie kept Choctaw traditions alive through her weaving. A notable Choctaw basketmaker, Fannie harvested, split, and shaved rivercane for her own baskets and expertly utilized traditional dyes made from plants like black walnut and sassafras to create intricate patterns within her weaving. Choctaw baskets have long served functional purposes, and while some of Fannie’s baskets were household items, others were sold to both tribal members and such notable figures as Clark Field, a Tulsa businessman with a fixation on Native American basketry. Today, Fannie’s baskets can be seen in museum collections across the United States. Although her work garnered much attention in this way, the countless hours she spent teaching this practice to her daughters Elsie (Williams) Battiest and Laura Willie, as well as Laura's sister-in-law, Wilsie Willie, go largely unacknowledged.
Prior to the opening of the Bok Abiaya exhibition, Eveline Steele, Fannie’s granddaughter and Elsie’s daughter, spent many days chatting with me about her family, her own experiences growing up in McCurtain County, and how the women in her family taught her to make baskets. The women in Eveline’s family have passed down this tradition for generations and Eveline has since shared her knowledge of Choctaw basketry with numerous community members, young Choctaw weavers, and her sons, Corey and Kevin Steele. In Oklahoma, Eveline is widely known as the only self-sufficient Choctaw rivercane basket maker. Her knowledge of this process, from start to finish, is unmatched, and her generosity in sharing this knowledge with those of us willing to listen and learn is priceless. Today, her sons continue to weave alongside her and in recent years have begun to make more rivercane baskets themselves.
Like the women before her, Eveline harvests cane where she can find it. Fannie, Elsie, Laura, and Wilsie often harvested rivercane on Mountain Fork River in McCurtain County, Oklahoma. For Oklahoma Choctaw people, land, and this part of southeastern Oklahoma in particular, is deeply connected to the tradition of weaving. At one time, rivercane flourished in this area, but today, the plant is scarcer than ever, adding an additional obstacle for Eveline to overcome. Similarly, the lasting impact of allotment and private property laws is felt throughout the area. Today, original allotment parcels have been sold and divvied up amongst settlers and Choctaw people alike. Much of the land near Mountain Fork River, which is rich with the nutrients needed to grow and foster healthy and mature rivercane for weaving, is now private property. Similarly, other areas with known canebrakes, plots of land where rivercane thrives, are also privately owned. Although all of this land resides within Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma tribal boundaries, Eveline must still seek permission to harvest cane from privately owned land. In an area where her family has long been harvesting cane, Eveline has had to forge relationships with landowners in order to continue the tradition of basketmaking.
Oftentimes, Eveline receives requests for her rivercane baskets from community members, museums, and others in search of Choctaw rivercane baskets. We are blessed that she has the resources and ability to continue sharing her craft. For many of us, generational knowledge of this practice has long been lost. For those of us that are lucky, the occasional family heirloom is passed down from each generation to the next. Like Sarah, I have encountered many Choctaw baskets, but no feeling has compared to that of holding the well-used and well-loved pocket basket of my fourth great grandmother, Janey (Homa) James. While I cannot know if she, her mother before her, or a fellow Choctaw woman wove this basket, I feel the weaver, and each generation who has protected this basket before me, within the woven cane.
Baskets are not just functional items or beautiful objects; they are vessels that continue to hold the memories and energy of those who wove and care for them. For Sarah’s show, Eveline’s practiced hands, filled with generations of knowledge, expertly wove the basket displayed alongside Sarah’s latest work - I Want to Hold You Longer. Here, we see the convergence of traditional Choctaw basketry and contemporary Native American Art. We see how two women with roots in McCurtain County, Oklahoma, continue to preserve the patterns, traditions, and memory of their ancestors through weaving.
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