Nunivak Basketry

Illustration: Range of Nunivak coiled baskets.

Nunivak Island is situated in the Bering Straits, just off the shore of the Alaskan mainland. The people of the island refer to themselves as Cup'ig or Nuniwarmiut. However, the basketry produced on the island is usually referred to as Nunivak.

Basketry on the island used local grasses as a convenient and plentiful supply for basket making. Natural raw materials for basketry were severely limited on an Arctic island like Nunivak, which makes the scale of accomplishment and the professionalism of the skills base of the island, extremely impressive. It is always astounding to those living in more temperate climates, of the incredible ingenuity and versatility that is part of the traditional craft skills base of those communities living within or near the Arctic Circle. With such limited resources basketry techniques reached an extremely high level of craftsmanship that rivalled those more popularly lauded examples found much further south.

Illustration: Satellite map of Nunivak Island, Alaska.

Nunivak basketry was constructed using the coiled technique, and although surface decoration did not seem of overriding importance, an interesting and more dynamic approach was used by integrating the coiled technique itself. By undulating and redirecting the layers of coiling, the basket maker was able to incorporate decoration as a permanent part of the three-dimensional experience, rather than that of surface pattern work that was either incorporated during construction, or simply added afterwards.

A range of other domestic products was also included within the scope of the local raw material of grass. These included matting and twine, which was used for a variety of wide-ranging uses. However, it is the basketry that stands out as perhaps one of the major achievements, at least within what could be seen as textile based crafts. It is always to be pointed out that textiles are not limited to wool, cotton and flax and are certainly not the sole hegemony of cultures that can weave. Basketry should always be seen within the context of textile-based crafts as it both one of the oldest of human crafts and is arguably the precursor of weaving itself.

Illustration: Nash Harbor, Nunivak Island, Alaska, 1927.

It is the finely tuned, balanced and creatively inspired construction and design process that has gone into the production of these Nunivak baskets, that makes them so appealing to contemporary tastes and aesthetics. They are such an important addition not only to the history of human basketry skills, but to those of human crafts in general. The basketry of this remote Alaskan island should be given the respect that a design icon deserves.

There is a range of resources available for anyone interested in the lifestyle, history and culture of the people of the island of Nunivak. In the reference links section below are links to the Nunivak community Facebook page. There are also two fascinating Flickr libraries of photographs documenting Nunivak's past and present. Also featured is a link to the cultural heritage site of the Cup'ig, which gives much more information past and present concerning the island itself and the people who inhabit it.

Further reading links:
Nunivak Facebook site
Historic Nunivak Flickr site
Nunivak Island Flickr site
Cup'ig Cultural Heritage site
Edward S. Curtis: The North American Indians
Eskimo Mask by Nunivak Island. Size 15.00 X 21.50 Art Poster Print
AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECONNAISSANCE OF NUNIVAK ISLAND, ALASKA
The social culture of the Nunivak Eskimo (American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia. Transactions, new series)
Nuni of Nunivak Island, A New Friend - Audio Book/CD
Eskimo Woman and Child, Nunivak, Alaska, ca. 1930 - Quality 16"x20" Photographic Print from the Library of Congress Collection
Herd of Muskoxen, Nunivak Island, Alaska, USA Photographic Poster Print by Art Wolfe, 9x12
Eskimo Childhood and Interpersonal Relationships: Nunivak Biographies and Genealogies (American Ethnological Society Publications)
A Herd of Domestic Reindeer on Nunivak Island in the Yukon Delta Artists Photographic Poster Print, 18x24
Historic Print (M): The drummer--Nunivak
Historic Print (L): Boys in a kaiak (i.e., kayak)--Nunivak

The Attu Basketry of the Aleutian Islands

Illustration: Types of Attu and Atka basketry work.

The Aleutian Islands are the long string of islands that travel in an arc along the bottom of the Bering Sea between Alaska and Russia. There are a number of communities throughout the archipelago that have been producing basketry for home consumption and outside markets for generations.

Illustration: Attu drawstring basketry design (detail).

All the basketry techniques and styles were unique to each island community; most of the baskets shown in this article derived from the western most island of the Aleutians, and indeed the westernmost point of Alaska, namely the island and community of Attu.

Attu basketry was famous from the nineteenth century onwards, particularly with a number of collectors. In some cases basketry from other islands in the Aleutian chain were mistakenly tagged with the name Attu. It is thought that this was a common mistake rather than a deliberate mislead, as the markets in the mainland US were so far away from the Aleutians that mistakes and mislabelling was common. However, many experts in the US were well aware that Attu basketry skills were probably the best and most authentic in the islands. Whether this had anything to do with the fact that Attu Island was the furthest point from American 'civilization' is an interesting one.

Illustration: Attu basketry construction.

Traditional Attu basketry used wild rye grass that grew everywhere on the islands. Harvesting, which took place in the short Alaskan summer, was not an easy process, as the grass had to be harvested meticulously as not all grass blades were suitable for basketry purposes. The grass was then slowly dried and then had to be separated into grades from coarse to fine. The grass was then dried again until ready to use. By careful harvesting and using a number of different drying techniques, different shades of grass could be used in the basketry process, thus adding an element of pattern and decoration without the need to dye the grass. Interestingly silk and worsted threads were traditionally used as part of the process of decoration, but these materials would have had to have been traded, as the islands had no domestic flocks of sheep, and certainly no direct access to silk.

Illustration: Attu basketry weaving (detail).

Most of the basketry weaving work was produced in the winter when communities were less active and there was more idle time to be filled. Although the basketry for domestic use was usually, if not totally, of a practical nature, those items for export to the US and beyond could take the form of anything from a basket to a cigarette case.

Illustration: Attu basketry cigarette case (detail).

In some respects, Attu basketry was deemed desirable because of its remoteness from the rest of the US, but this on its own would not have been enough to explain its popularity. It was also very well made, the accumulated skill of generations of basketry makers, which made the products that reached the larger external world all the more attractive because of the skill and professional finishing that was involved in this traditional craft.

Illustration: Attu basketry weaving (detail).

All of the images in this article were taken in the first decade of the twentieth century and therefore are probably closer to the uninterrupted traditional lifestyle and craft techniques and skills that made the Attu so attractive to outsiders.

Illustration: Attu basketry construction.

Basketry is still produced throughout the Aleutians. An interesting selection of which can be seen on the Museum of the Aleutians website, along with a number of other museum exhibits. The website can be found here.

There is also a website run by the people of Attu, which gives information on the human and natural history of the island. Their website can be found here.

Further reading links:
Museum of the Aleutians
Attu Island Website
Basketry of the Aleutian Island
Baleen Basketry of the North Alaskan Eskimo
Spruce root basketry of the Alaska Tlingit
Photo Native basketry 1900
Alaska Indian Basketry (Shorey Indian Series)
Alaska Basketry (1917)
American Indian Basketry: Indian, Eskimo, and Aleut Basketry of Alaska: Vol II, No 2, Whole Issue No 6)
Aleut Basketry Collection of the Alaska State Museum (Technical paper number 10. October 1999)
American Indian Basketry (Magazine): Indian, Eskimo, and Aleut Basketry of Alaska. No. 6 (II)
Emmons's notes on Field Museum's collection of Northwest Coast basketry (Fieldiana)
A proposed glossary of spruce root basketry terms (Concepts, technical paper)
Spruce Root Basketry of the Alaska Tling
Sitka spruce roots used in basketry: By A.S. Harris (Concepts, technical paper)
The basketry of the Tlingit (American Museum of Natural History. Memoirs)