Basketry was one of the chief areas where a woman's aesthetic skills and sensitivities could be practiced. This was expressed both in the careful preparation of materials and the artistry of the weaving itself but also in the designs woven into the basket. In the late 19th and early 20th Century, indigenous women of the Great Basin recognized the potential economic value of their basketry arts and various professional collectors made it their business to develop interest in their works. Abram and Amy Cohn were exemplary in this enterprise. They owned a large clothing store in Carson City and opened a summer resort store at Lake Tahoe. While there were many Washoe basketmakers, the Cohn's became especially well known as the sole agents for the baskets of Lousia Keyser (Dat so la lee) who worked from 1895 until her death in 1925, making Washoe basketry famous.
The baskets by Louisa Keyser demonstrate exquisite craftsmanship and very fine designs. As Keyser experienced increasing success and fame, she began to innovate basketry forms as well as designs. She eventually became famous for a basketry form known as the degikup --- a coiled bowl in which the top coils wrapped inward to form an opening narrower than the basket itself. Coiled Washoe baskets were made from willow shoots; finely split willow was even used for the sewing material. As a consequence, the baskets are light color and almost polished in appearance. The designs were made with fine strips of redbud bark or bracken fern and were consistently woven in extremely slender, largely vertical patterns. The basketry of Washoe women is very easy to identify.
Beyond basketry, the graphic arts were expressed in design of individual utilitarian objects and costuming. Pottery, while it existed in the Great Basin, was not extensively decorated, if it was decorated at all. In our normal understanding of arts, then, this leaves music and dance.
Indigenous music was almost universally song and not individual instrumentation (as, for example, in contemporary Indian flute music). Thus, indigenous music centered around the human voice and instrumental accomplaniment was optional. Songs were sung by individuals or by groups. The character of the song was determined by its function. "They [might be] curative, magical, or essential components of dances and religious ceremonies. . . The salient traits of the prototypical Great Basin style . . .[are]. . . narrow melodic ranges, a relaxed vocal performance, undulating melodic contours with frequent returns to the tonic, a limited number of rhythmic values, and a tendency toward paired phrase structure." (Vennum, 682) Vocal pulsation is avoided by assigning a different note to each syllable. Vennum suggests that a Northern Paiute song (Vennum, 1a, 699) is typical of the Basin. It is sung by Badger for a round dance and, since Badger is harbinger of winter, it is most likely a round dance performed in the fall during the annual pine nut harvest. In translation, the song simply says, "Toward the tree (with) pine nut cone seeds, in the mountains (we) move about." Only notes D, G, and A are used. The song is repeated continuously as the dance proceeds.
Great Basin music tends to demonstrate the tension of external influences. In the northeastern regions, Plains musical forms were adopted; in the southwestern regions, California forms predominated. This is especially true of instrumentation. The aboriginal round dance, most popular of Great Basin dance forms, was probably performed to the rythym of voices alone. These were performed within a variety of circumstances --- pine nut harvest (as above), the Uintah Ute Woman's Dance, the Washoe Girl's Puberty Dance, the Northern Paiute Hump Dance, etc. As these dances evolved and external influences entered the Basin, various instruments were adopted to augment the voices. Instruments were also forwarded by the articulation of shamanic traditions and techniques, especially whistles, flutes, and clappers of various kinds. A strong example of external influence is the single-hole Sun Dance whistle which was blown essentially as a percussion instrument. This could be found among Basin peoples in the northeastern region (Eastern Shoshone and Ute) who were closest to Plains influence. Similarly, cocoon- and dewclaw-rattles were imported into the western regions of the Basin from California. Drums came off of the Plains and were, hence, unknown among the Owens Valley Paiutes. The large dance drums typical of modern Plains Indian gatherings were not introduced until the late Nineteenth Century. (Vennum, 683-685)
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