Indigenous basket weaver honors ancestral teachers in McMinnville exhibit

“Hands of the Ancestors” is an exhibit currently taking place at Linfield University’s Miller Fine Arts Center in McMinnville. It showcases the work of Stephanie Craig, an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde and a seventh-generation basket weaver and artist. Oregon ArtsWatch recently profiled Craig and her exhibit, which is on display until May 2. 

Craig spends nine months of the year locating and harvesting traditional materials such as hazel, rushes, bigleaf maple and western red cedar from across the state. She uses them to shape baskets and other woven items with the aid of tools like an antler awl and kupin, a traditional digging stick. But “Hands of the Ancestors” offers visitors more than just a window into Craig’s skills and artistry. It opens up a bridge linking the past to the present and future with an array of family photos and texts honoring the elders who taught Craig the Kalapuya tradition of basket weaving and the new generations Craig teaches today, including her 4-year-old daughter.

Craig joins us to talk about the exhibit and the messages of resilience and Native pride embedded in her work.