Illustration: Traditional Hupa basket and purses.
The term Hupa basketry can be a confusing one as the term became associated with a number of distinctly individual people including the Hupa who all lived in the extreme northwest corner of what is now the state of California. The Karuk, Tolowa, Whilcut, Wiyot, Yurok and Hupa all produced basketry that was often seen as so similar by outsiders that much of it was subsequently tagged as Hupa by European American traders and collectors. The name Hupa became generally used because most of the basketry produced by the differing communities in the area was traded through the small town of Hoopa.
As with basketry the world over, local materials were paramount in the construction of Hupa basketry. Hazel, willow, conifer, pine, spruce and various grasses were used as raw materials. Coloured pattern work was also produced using locally procured ingredients for dying.
Illustration: Hupa mother with basketry hat, and child, 1924.
Basketry fuelled the practical every day domestic needs of the community. Large storage, carrying and gathering baskets tended towards the utilitarian, though decoration of this form of basketry was still often incorporated within the overall design of the piece.
Some of the basketry was so finely woven that it could be used as a cooking pot, rather than that of a clay based pot. However, this would then mean that the cooking basket couldn't be placed on the fire as a clay pot would, but instead would have hot stones placed in it in order to allow the contents to quickly boil without overly harming the basket. This was indeed a common practise by countless cultures across the planet and goes to show the age of the craft that many now believe considerably predates ceramics.
Illustration: Traditional Hupa basketry.
However, it was the largely decorative baskets, those that came to be known as trinket baskets, which really came to be widely known and associated as Hupa basketry. These baskets were traditionally given as gifts within communities, though as larger numbers started appearing within the tourist market, these specialised and finely woven baskets were to become almost exclusively a product of both the tourist and collectors market. The tourist trade was to eventually dominate basketry production and often dictated design and decoration that was foreign to indigenous communities but more in tune to that of the European American tradition.
A number of online sites both sell and display the best of Hupa basketry, some of which have been included within the reference links section below. Also included is the official Hoopa Valley Indian Tribe website where more can be found concerning the history, culture and contemporary world of the communities that go to make up the Hoopa Valley.
Further reading links:
Official Hoopa Valley Indian Tribe
Hupa Art
Hupa Basketry examples
Medicine Man Gallery
Native American Fine Art
Our Home Forever: The Hupa Indians of Northern California
Cry for Luck: Sacred Song and Speech Among the Yurok, Hupa, and Karok Indians of Northwestern California
Life and Culture of the Hupa
A Smoky Day at the Sugar Bowl - Hupa 20x30 poster
Hupa Language Dictionary
Tribes of California
Close View of the Hands of a Hupa Indian Weaving a Basket Photographic Poster Print by Dick Durrance, 36x48
California Native American Tribes Hupa Tribe (California's Native American Tribes)
Hupa Tribal Museum, In the Land of the Natinixwe (Where Rainbows Begin)
Curtis 1923 Photograph of Watching For Salmon - Hupa - Antique Photogravure Reproduction
The Phonology of the Hupa Language, Volume 5, issue 1; volume 5, issue 3
Historic Print (S): Fishing from canoe--Hupa
Historic Print (M): Hupa fisherman
