Handed Down - Nevada Arts Council

1991–1992
Washoe Baskets:
JoAnn Martinez and Cynthia Foster
The tradition of Washoe willow basketry has seen a
marked resurgence in recent years, thanks in large
part to the efforts of JoAnn Smokey Martinez and her
sister Theresa Smokey Jackson. The two women are
tireless practitioners of and advocates for the Washoe
way of life, and have been extremely generous in sharing
their knowledge of the language, stories, beliefs, plants,
foods and crafts they grew up with.
In this apprenticeship, JoAnn Martinez worked
with her niece Cynthia Foster to teach the art of willow
basketry. Both live in Dresslerville, the Washoe Colony
near Gardnerville, and come from a long line of accomplished
craftswomen. JoAnn learned to work with willows
from her mother and grandmother, although she
never tried making baskets on her own until she was
in middle age and realized if she wanted baskets she’d
have to make them herself. “It was strange there, when I
started working with the willow, I knew exactly what to
do, and everything just came so easily for me,” she says.
“I think you have that feeling there for it, and like I say,
I have a good feeling with working with willows, I just
really enjoy it.”
Apprentice Cynthia Foster got the same feeling, even
as she struggled to learn to split willows into three parts
to make threads for sewing. She raised her own children
in cradleboards, but lately she had been searching for a
renewed connection to her culture, and called on her
family heritage to help. As she explained , “I think I just
see what’s happening…I want some type of a source…
and I just really felt a need, I didn’t want this to die,
I didn’t want it to
just disappear…
so I reached back
and I thought I’m
going to do this, I
feel artistic, I can
do this, I have talent,
I do, I have a
desire and I have
the patience.”
Cynthia Foster
learning to split
willows.
Patience is a definite prerequisite for the task, which
is actually a long series of tasks. JoAnn began by showing
Cynthia how to find good willows, not an easy job
in the Carson Valley with its booming development and
increasing use of pesticides in farming. Once gathered,
willows to be used for the back of a cradleboard need to
be cleaned and scraped, while willows for threads are
split and the inner pith taken out; and all of this needs
to be done while they are still fresh. Only when all the
materials are ready can the weaving start—the long,
flat back of the cradleboard, and the curved hood made
from tiny willows, and decorated with yarn in different
patterns for boys and girls. Cynthia completed a cradleboard
during her apprenticeship, and shows every intention
of continuing to develop here art with the help
of her aunts.
JoAnn Martinez using a winnowing tray to roast pine nuts
with hot coals.
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