The Sun Dances Around the People, 2018
This basket is a traditional, Southeastern Woodlands style doublewoven rivercane basket. A very difficult and challenging weaving technique, long rivercane splints over five feet are used. Natural rivercane begins the bottom and inner walls. The corners are turned creating the diagonal direction of the splints. Before the rim is ready to be created, 108 dyed bloodroot splints are inserted in one direction all around the inside and then tucked underneath. This creates three bloodroot bands on the inner wall. The rim of the basket is ready to be created and all the splints are bent over. The outer wall is woven with intricate patterns. To finish the basket, the dyed splints are tucked into the bottom splints and trimmed. The splints are then woven in the same fashion as the basket was started and the ends tightened and trimmed, creating one basket.
I harvest, split, and peel the rivercane by hand, resulting in hundreds of hours of work to produce a single piece. The patterns on the basket include the Noonday Sun, Double Peace Pipe, Chief’s Daughter, and Arrow Point. I am a generational weaver, learning from my mother. My grandmother and great grandfather were basketweavers too.
Vivian Cottrell
(Cherokee National Treasure, Cherokee Nation, 1959–)
Cherokee Nation, Kansas, OK
Doublewoven rivercane and bloodroot dye,
9¼” x 8½” x 9¼”
McClung Museum of Natural History & Culture, 2024.2.1
