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An exhibition solely devoted to Northwestern California Indian caps has never before been assembled, nor have the greatest accomplishments of several generations of cap weavers been
assessed. There are only a few cap makers among the younger generation of weavers and most senior basketmakers are no longer weaving caps. Many weavers never become sufficiently
accomplished to weave caps. The theme of this exhibition, the woven cap, is the result of the need to examine the most challenging of twined baskets and to accentuate their significance.
Woven basket caps are the pinnacle of closed-work twined basketmaking. The love of caps and the exchange of ideas between art historian Ron Johnson, basketmaker Susan "Tweet" Burdick,
and basket expert Coleen Kelley Marks inspired this exhibition. Tweet commented to the author last summer at a Karuk Flower Dance that there are so few weavers of basket caps that in the
future there may not be enough for the ceremonial dances. Coleen Kelley Marks and Ron Johnson chose the theme of woven caps and limited the exhibition to known weavers. Each weaver’s
accomplishments are emphasized through introductions and interviews in which their caps and the processes of weaving and gathering are discussed. |