Cedar Basket, 2016, cedar bark and raffia. SFU Art Collection. Gift of the Salish Weave Collection of George and Christiane Smyth, 2022. Photo: Janet Dwyer
Cedar Basket, created by Sulsamaeethl (Deb George), is a small basket made of cedar with dyed raffia woven in horizontal linier designs, this technique is also referred to as false embroidery. Cedar Basket is an excellent example of Coast Salish basketry technique, where designs are created on twined baskets using false embroidery and overlay. While basket weaving has always been of upmost importance for everyday life in West Coast Indigenous communities, after-contact basket-making became an increasingly important economic activity due to its popularity with tourists and collectors. As a result, basket-weavers responded by creating smaller vessels, experimenting with new forms, and adding design elements such as handles, pedestal bases, and decorative rims. The availability of commercial dyes made for brighter colours, and some basket weavers incorporated imported materials likes raffia into their works. Cedar Basket thus occupies an important place in the current arts landscape through its unique and contemporary interpretation of an enduring and constantly evolving, and culturally significant object-form.
Sulsameethl (Deb George), a member of the Cowichan Tribes from the east coast of Vancouver Island, is a weaver, printmaker, Quw’utsun Elder, Knowledge Keeper, and a Researcher & Stqeeye’ Learning Society Co-Manager. She served as Cultural Protocol Liaison at the Office for Indigenous Affairs at the University of Victoria and is an instructor in land-based knowledge at Vancouver Island University.