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Saturday, October 27, 2001

By Mary Thomas, Post-Gazette Art Critic

"Our lives were bound the way baskets were bound together," American Indian author and basket maker Julia Parker says to explain the significance woven willow baskets had in Pomo society.

Parker, who has been a cultural demonstrator at Yosemite National Park for 40 years, and her daughter Lucy, a prominent basket maker and teacher, will be in residence at the Society for Contemporary Craft, Strip District, Nov. 2-4. At 7 p.m. Nov. 2 they'll give a free slide lecture, and conduct a two-day workshop Nov. 3 and 4.

Participants will use willow collected by the Parkers in California to make a Pomo Indian-style basket using traditional techniques. The Parkers also will talk about gathering and preparing materials, as well as the challenges to keeping this art form alive in the context of environmental changes, pollution and legal restrictions.

To register for the workshop, call 412-261-7003 or e-mail thestudio@contemporarycraft.org. Cost is $130, members $110.