Chumash Basketry: Art & Life - Free Talk
At the Museum | Fleischmann Auditorium
For thousands of years, baskets played essential roles in all aspects of traditional Chumash life—for gathering, storing, preparing and serving food, holding water, keeping valuables, measuring acorns for trade, carrying babies, in gambling, as gifts, and for ceremonies. Chumash weavers have always made baskets entirely by hand, using particular species of native plants that are managed, harvested, and prepared specifically for weaving. These ancestral traditions are an increasingly important part of Chumash life today.
In this free public lecture presented by the Santa Barbara County Archaeological Society, SBMNH Curator Emeritus of Ethnography Jan Timbrook, Ph.D., will share her research and experiences with the living art of Chumash basketry, including the basics of how baskets are made, and the plants that make them possible.
No tickets or reservations required, but it is recommended to arrive a little early to ensure a seat, and to admire the work of weavers past and present on view at the Museum in a new exhibit. For questions about the Santa Barbara County Archaeological Society or the upcoming meetings, please contact SBCAS President Glenn Russell, Ph.D., by email.
Top photo by Bill Zeldis
