| Name a culture that didn't use baskets! Class discussions begin with the focus on baskets as utilitarian objects. Primitive peoples did not sit around and think, "Hey, I think I'll weave a lovely basket today!" In a grassland environment, you use what is there to create what you need. Baskets were used for everything from carrying water to carrying tools for hunting and fishing, for gathering foods, sorting grains, and of course for storage. |
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| People began embellishing utilitarian objects for various reasons: to symbolize/distinguish a tribe, to bring fortune to a hunt, to begin and then continue a tradition, to indicate direction, or quite simply to make an object more lovely. |
| In class, we are unable to soak reeds (plants that make what you might consider a "regular" basket). Instead we use the fiber coil technique to create our baskets - that's a foundation cord wrapped with yarn. |
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