AFA Summer 2019

Summer 90 www.afamag.com | w ww.incollect.com Fig. 3: Rattle-top basket, Anonymous (Tlingit), ca. 1875. Spruce root, bear grass. Twining with overlaid imbrication. H. 3½ ,W. 5, D. 5 in. Lent by Lois Russell (RRR.90 A&B). Traditionally, Tlingit rattle-top baskets were domestic workbaskets. Women wove a central chamber into the lid and placed loose pebbles or shot inside it, so that the basket made noise when it was moved. A pattern of repeated Raven’s tails ( walhl-koo-woo ) encircles the body of the basket, while spear barbs decorate its base as well as the lip of the lid. The once bright colors were created with synthetic dyes. At the end of the nineteenth century, rattle-top baskets like this one became popular tourist and collector’s items. Fig. 4: Mickey Mouse coil basket, Ed Rossbach (1914– 2002), 1975. Synthetic raffia, sea grass, coiling with imbrication. H. 6, W. 9, D. 9 in. Lent by Jim Harris (RRR.66). Translating traditional harvesting methods to modern life, Rossbach foraged readily available materials like plants and sticks as well as contemporary surplus such as foil, plastic bags, and newspapers for his work. He also appropriated pop culture iconography like his East Coast contemporary, Andy Warhol. This basket elevates the famous Disney character to the realm of fine art and critiques the low status given to craft media during this era.