Washoe woman displays collection of baskets

Sue Coleman, a Washoe tribe basket weaver, will display her personal collection of traditional willow baskets at the Nevada Arts Council until the end of March.

The collection includes winnowing trays, gift baskets, seed beaters, burden baskets and cradle boards.

Coleman, 52, learned the craft from her mother 14 years ago. Her grandmother and great-grandmother also were basket weavers.

"It's a passion with me, something I wanted to carry on," Coleman said. "It's part of my heritage."

Growing up on a Washoe reservation in Dresslerville, south of Gardnerville, Coleman watched as women wove baskets and traditional cradle boards to hold newborn babies. The craft is all but dying out now, she said.

The Washoe tribe has used baskets as part of its culture for gathering, preparing, and cooking indigenous foods. Baskets were also used for fishing and hunting, as beds for children and given as gifts.

"I'm trying to teach other people about our heritage through the baskets," Coleman said. "I want to teach people how important baskets were to our survival."

For more than 400 generations, Washoes gathered on the shores of Lake Tahoe to hunt and fish in the early spring and celebrate the end of winter.

In the fall, the tribe would harvest pine nuts in the lower mountains. Winters were spent in the lower valley areas, now Reno/Sparks, Carson City, Minden and Gardnerville, where many of the 1,500 tribal members now live.

In winter, Coleman gathers the willow branches used in her baskets around lakes and rivers, she said. She cuts bundles of new-growth branches, strips off the bark, and splits them into three sections to make threads.

"That's the hardest thing, to make the threads," Coleman said.

Fifteen of her baskets are displayed in the lobby of the Nevada Arts Council office at 716 N. Carson St., at the corner of Washington and Carson streets.

The office is open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

A closing reception is open to the public from 6 to 8 p.m. March 27.

IF YOU GO

What: Display of Sue Coleman's personal collection of traditional willow baskets

Where: Nevada Arts Council office, 716 N. Carson St., at the corner of Washington and Carson streets

When: Office is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. A closing reception is open to the public and will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. March 27.

Cost: Free