Archaeology Pack Basket with Tumpline

Date2022

Maker Ed Carriere Native American, Suquamish, born 1932

Label TextMaster basket-maker Carriere gathers cedar bark and roots from ancestral property that has been in his family since the 19th century. He spends hours preparing these materials for weaving, just as his ancestors did for millenia. His great-grandmother Julia Jacobs, who taught him how to weave, was one of the links in an unbroken tradition that he honors by re-creating weaving techniques that are more than 4,000 years old. He does this by working alongside archaeologists, who discover delicate basketry fragments in waterlogged sites that have, ironically, preserved them. Making baskets—a labor of love and an act of remembrance that is highly esteemed in his own community—has been historically undervalued as craft by settlers and academics. Carriere’s precise work challenges notions of artistic hierarchy and provides a nuanced view into the brilliance of transforming humble materials into works of memory and power.

Object number2022.36

ProvenanceThe artist; purchased from artist by Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, 2022

Photo CreditPhoto: Scott Leen

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, American Art: The Stories We Carry, Oct. 20, 2022 - ongoing.

Credit LineAncient and Native American Art Acquisition Fund

Dimensions15 1/2 x 14 1/2 x 14 1/2 in. (39.4 x 36.8 x 36.8 cm)

MediumBasket: Spruce root, cedar root,cedar limbs, cherry bark; tumpline: cedar bark, wool, beads, cloth