Plateau

Basketry is a major art of First Nation and native American peoples. It is the oldest of all the craft arts, melding artistic creativity with practicality to form containers for food collection and storage. The basket makers of the Plateau region in particular are recognised as some of the most accomplished in north America. Produced exclusively by women, skills were passed down from mother to daughter.

The processes involved in making a basket were steeped in the traditions and beliefs of a cultural group. This meant that while certain techniques and materials may have been shared, baskets were marked by choices of design to create distinctive styles. Within each band or tribe, basket making techniques may have been determined through what was taught, but the process of decoration gave the women artistic freedom. The patterns created on basketry often stemmed from objects and patterns seen in nature and the women’s environments.

Basketry was often used in trade to procure items that were not available locally. After colonists arrived in the area, it became an important part of the market economy for indigenous people- by the beginning of the 20th century, Plateau baskets had become fashionable to collect among the white settlers in British Columbia.