ARTIST BIOGRAPHY

Traditional Skill/Art: Rogue River Tribe Basket Weaving Years Won: 2022 Contact Information:                 Phone: (971) 599-3242                  Email: kalapuyaweaver@gmail.com Website: www.kalapuyaweaving.com

Stephanie is of Santiam and Yoncalla Kalapuya, Takelma Rogue River, Cow Creek Umpqua, and Clackamas Chinook descent and a seventh-generation traditional basket weaver, tradition keeper, and ethnobotanist (the traditional harvesting, preparation, and storage of indigenous plants). She comes from a long line of strong traditional women-weavers in her tribe, and she grew up around the basketry and listened to her great-great-aunties and other elders in her tribe talk about the old ways. Stephanie also runs a small business where she travels to different tribes and institutions to teach weaving. Stephanie learned to weave through the oral traditions of her family when she was young. Her weaving and plant teachings have come from traditional weaving elders and other tribal members from neighboring tribes. Besides her early and informal apprenticeships with elders on the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde reservation, The Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation, Suquamish Indian Tribe, and the Lummi Nation, Craig has studied under three of the most accomplished Tribal basket makers in Oregon - the late Sanda "Sam" Henny of the Grand Ronde Tribe, the late Minerva Soucie of the Burns-Paiute Tribe, Pat Courtney Gold (Wasco) - and renowned anthropologist Margaret Mathewson. Following the tradition, which encompasses all aspects of basket making, Craig harvests all her own material--beaked and California hazel, sandbar and gray willow, juncus, tule, and cattails--all from old traditional sites and other closely guarded gathering spots in the mountains. The history of the Grand Ronde tribes includes forced removal from their homelands and ways of life to a new forced assimilation where they were punished for practicing and continuing their traditions. Because of this, the tribes have a couple of generations who grew up without knowledge of these traditional arts and practices. Stephanie wants to pass on these important teachings, so they do not become lost again.

APPRENTICE BIOGRAPHY - Dakota Zimmer 2022

Dakota Zimmer was born in Portland Oregon. She is an enrolled tribal member of Grand Ronde and descended from Rogue River, Molalla, and Clackamas Tribes. Growing up in Grand Ronde Dakota has been immersed in the culture of the tribe. Besides attending pow wows several times a year, Dakota has also crafted traditional beaded items throughout the last 20 years. Recently, Dakota has been surrounded by the traditional baskets, materials, and weaving techniques of her ancestors through her employment at her tribe’s museum. This sparked an interest in Dakota to learn more about the traditions of her ancestors. Dakota comes from a line of basket weavers but over time that knowledge of her family was lost. Through her apprenticeship with Stephanie Dakota wants to learn and bring this traditional back to her family and community for future generations.

Q+A WITH THE MENTOR ARTIST