SUN HOUSE IN UKIAH

THE GRACE HUDSON MUSEUM HOUSES 30,000 COLLECTIONS FROM CURRENT POMO AND OTHER LOCAL TRIBAL BASKETS AND OTHER ARTIFACTS. CA BASKETRY FROM THE CALIFORNIA INDIAN HERITAGE CENTER IS LOCATED HERE AND EXTENDS AT LEAST 5000 YEARS AGO. ALL CALIFORNIA INDIANS CREATED DISTINCT BASKETRY STYLES. WE VISITED THE MUSEUM ONCE WE MOVED TO UKIAH IN THE LATE 80'S.

BASKETS WERE A NECESSARY PART OF LIFE FOR THESE INDIANS AND THEY RELIED ON THEM FOR ALL ASPECTS OF LIFE VS. POTTERY. THEIR BASKETS WERE STRONG AND WATERTIGHT, AND PERFECTED TO THEIR LOCAL FOOD ECONOMY. THEY MADE BASKETS FOR COOKING, EATING, WINNOWING SEEDS, SIFTING FLOUR, STORING WATER, SERVING GUESTS AND CRADLING INFANTS. THEIR BASKETRY WAS MASTERFUL AND THEY HAD A BOUNDLESS VARIETY OF THEM. THEY WERE BOTANISTS IN THEIR OWN RIGHT AND KNEW THE QUALITIES OF ROOTS, REEDS, GRASSES THAT THEY WOVE TO MAKE MASTERPIECES OF ART.

GRACE CARPENTER HUDSON LIVED FROM 1865 TO 1937. SHE STUDIED ART FROM 1865 TO 1937. SHE STUDIED ART IN SAN FRANCISCO, BUT WAS BORN IN POTTER VALLEY. HER HUSBAND WAS BORN IN CALIFORNIA AND HAD BEEN A DENTIST TURNED ETHNOGRAPHER WITH THE SMITHSONIAN, AS HE ADORED THE LOCAL POMO PEOPLE. HE BEGAN COLLECTING BASKETS AND INTERVIEWED MANY OF THE LOCAL PEOPLE IN THEIR VILLAGE. THE PAINTER LADY - GRACE CARPENTER HUDSON, WRITTEN BY BOYNTON, DESCRIBES THE LIFE OF GRACE AS SHE PAINTED FOR MORE THAN 40 YEARS. HER PAINTINGS WERE PRIMARILY OF THE POMO, BUT SHE TRAVELED TO HAWAII AS WELL AND PAINTED SOME OF THESE FOLKS ALSO. THEIR SUN HOUSE WAS BUILT IN 1911 OF REDWOOD.

ELSIE ALLEN, A FAMOUS POMO BASKET MAKER, WHO LIVED IN SONOMA AND MENDOCINO COUNTIES, WROTE A BOOK ON HOW TO WEAVE AND TWINE POMO BASKETS OF ALL TYPES. THIS WAS NOT SOMETHING THAT THE POMOS LIKED AS THEY CONSIDERED THEIR BASKETS CEREMONIAL AND SPIRITUAL. HOWEVER, SHE DECIDED TO LET THE WORLD KNOW HOW TO WEAVE AND COIL THE BASKETS SINCE THIS CRAFT WAS DYING IN THEIR VILLAGES. AT THE TIME THERE WERE FEW GIRLS STILL INTERESTED IN IT. THERE IS A CALIFORNIA BASKET WEAVERS SOCIETY THAT GETS TOGETHER THROUGHOUT THE YEAR TO SHARE IDEAS AND HAVE FUN.

THE MUSEUM HAS ON DISPLAY MANY OF CARPENTER'S OIL PAINTINGS AND SOME NICE BASKETS AND A DISPLAY DISCUSSING HOW THEY ARE MADE. THEY HAVE A BASKETRY GARDEN OUTSIDE THE MUSEUM WITH PLANTS USED BY POMO WEAVERS. IN 2000 A LARGE ADDITIONAL WING TO THE MUSEUM WAS BUILT. IT HOUSES A PERMANENT DISPLAY OF GRACE HUDSON'S WORK.

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