TRADITIONAL AND INVENTED PATTERNS
Her friend Ethel Williams was another unique perfectionist among coastal weavers who used decoration on her caps in inventive
ways that perfectly harmonize with the beauty of her caps (fig. 33). Clam, abalone, and dentalium shells are combined in most inventive ways with woodpecker scalps to reflect a coastal
weaver’s sensibility. Another unique instance of design is the black and yellow cap by Minnie Frank that was based on a crocheted cap Delores Moon Mercado wove for Minnie (fig. 34).
Minnie had asked Delores to weave her a crocheted cap to wear to the other side. Certainly other magnificent weavers in our exhibition can be recognized and many others about whom little is
known. Contemporary cap makers tend to regard designs of their own invention as highly desirable and this may partly correspond to their self-conception as artists and their art training in
high school and college. Many weavers are now college graduates and some have learned to weave in college classes. In most institutions of learning weaving was regarded as a craft in 1929
but now it is regarded as art.
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