OSHKOSH, Wis. (WFRV) – Interested in learning more about the Ho-Chunk Nation and their history in Wisconsin? Look no further than the Paine Art Center and Gardens in Oshkosh.
Starting on March 17, the Paine Art Center and Gardens is opening its ‘Weaving a Legacy: Ho-Chunk Black Ash Basketry‘ exhibit to showcase the tradition of Native basketmaking in Wisconsin. The exhibit will display over 100 works by Ho-Chunk makers.
University of Wisconsin-Madison Professor of Photography Tom Jones has collected and studied these baskets for over a decade to help preserve the culture. Jones is also a Ho-Chunk artist himself and the curator of the exhibit.
“I wanted to create an archive of Ho-Chunk baskets because our tribe now probably only has 13 basketmakers left continually making them,” Jones said. “I’m doing this for our future generations so that there’s a visual archive of the different styles.”
Jones said that the exhibit showed about 50 different styles, emphasizing again that it’s for the future generation, especially as it becomes even more difficult to make the baskets.
“With climate change as the weather gets warmer… it gets harder for our people to get the wood [needed],” Jones said. “Often times, they’re going up to where the Potawatami are and getting trees there to make these baskets.”
Another exhibition is also on the way to complement ‘Weaving a Legacy’: The ‘Black Ash Baskets: A Local Collection’ featuring over four dozen baskets by Native weavers, collected by Oshkosh resident Kirsten Buckstaff.
Green Bay elementary school students gathering items for ‘Help for the Homeless Drive’
Her collection primarily contains Black Ash works from Ho-Chunk makers; however, it features works from the Menominee, Ojibwe and other Indigenous people.
Visit the Paine Art Center and Gardens website for more details and hours.
