Article by SUSAN MINICHIELLO FOR THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

April 22, 2021 Read full article

Image: A Pomo basket using small beads woven into a colorful design is displayed by the Jesse Peter Multicultural Museum at the Santa Rosa Junior College. The Elsie Allen Basket Collection was acquired by the museum in 2003. (Jesse Peter Multicultural Museum)

Before Elsie Allen’s mother died, she defied convention and asked that her handwoven baskets not be buried with her so others could learn from them.

“Mother died in 1962, and I have tried to keep my promise,” Allen wrote in her 1972 book “Pomo Basketmaking: A Supreme Art for the Weaver.”

True to her word, Allen continued the ancient Pomo art of basket making and traveled around Northern California to demonstrate her techniques. She gathered willow, bulrush, woolly sedge and California redbud found in marshes, streams or at the foothills of the Sierra. She made coiled baskets from tightly wound knots and formed twine baskets and baby baskets… Read full article

Thanks to Pacific Textile Arts for this information.