Artistic Ideas Needed By January 15th for Water Basket Native Art Project
An Inspiring Large Scale Endeavor
By Kathleen Scavone
Water Basket is an exciting and innovative Native inspired art project launched in northern California’s rural Middletown. Your Pomo-inspired basketry and artistic ideas are actively being encouraged for this project, with an open call for proposals due by
January 15th at 11:59pm. Information can be found on the Middletown Art Center’s website at: middletownartcenter.org/waterbasket
Selected artists will receive $1,000.00 compensation to work with muralists to aid with refining and enlarging the art, and a fuel/lodging stipend will be provided on an as-needed basis. A stellar jury made up of representatives from the Middletown Rancheria tribal members, regional cultural practitioners, water district board members, Middletown Area Merchants Association and Town Hall members as well as members of the Middletown Art Center’s artistic staff will judge proposals. The public will be informed of various phases of the Water Basket project via mockups and models of select proposals which will be displayed in various venues noted on the Middletown Art Center’s website. Semi-finalists will receive $300.00 each to work with the staff and community on 3-D mock-ups for public input. For example, your dynamic composition should be readily interpreted from top-to-sides and all around the water tanks, should consider local ecology, include geometric or symbolic skill as well as consideration of the traditional Pomo colors of red, orange, yellow, straw, brown or black.
The all-inclusive project is a partnership between Pomo artists, Middletown Rancheria of Pomo Indians, Callayomi County Water District and the Middletown Art Center. The venture is partially funded by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, Middletown Rancheria, the Water District and public support. This innovative art project will culminate in large-scale murals inspired by Pomo basketry painted on the town’s two huge water tanks that are situated atop a hill making the art visible for one-to-two miles in each direction- including aerial views from above!
In order to familiarize the public with this large scale project the Water Basket project opened with a Pomo basket design panel discussion at Twin Pines Casino on September 17, 2023 with a bevy of inspirational artists and culture bearers such as Millie Simon (Middletown Rancheria Pomo/Wintun), Meyo Marrufo ((Eastern Pomo from the Clear Lake Basin), Buffy Thomas (Scotts Valley Band of Pomo), Corine Pearce (Redwood Valley Little River Band of Pomo), Wanda Quitiquit (Eastern Pomo from Robinson Rancheria), Eric Wilder (Kashaya Band of Pomo) and Patty Ray-Franklin (Scotts Valley band of Pomo).
According to the Middletown Art Center’s website, Moke Simon, Middletown Rancheria Tribal Chair and Lake County District 1 Supervisor said of the Water Basket project, “Our cultural heritage is needed to uplift our people from grief and pain. Traditional aspects must be re-established not as a textbook lesson or an artifact behind glass, but as a living art through practice.”
The Middletown Art Center has held ground-breaking events such as ‘WEAVING- Weaving Baskets, Weaving Bridges’ which was a year-long project that invited the public to learn about the native art of basket weaving from November 2021-October 2022, and culminated in a fascinating exhibit, ‘Earth Sky and Everything in Between’ which was the first exhibit of the work of contemporary Native artists in Lake County as well as the first exhibit curated by a Native American in Lake County (Corine Pearce), and was on view July 9- October 10, 2022.
The Water Basket project is due in a large part to the tireless efforts of artist and educator Lisa Kaplan who is Executive Director/ Art Director of the Middletown Art Center. Kaplan, part of the Middletown Art Center’s founding team has led the curation of 43 remarkable exhibits there. Her work at the Middletown Art Center, especially challenging after the devastating Valley Fire of 2015 that swept through south Lake County taking her home as well as 2,000 other buildings on over 76,000 fire-ravaged acres, provided a place for many displaced residents to turn to after the shocking event traumatized so many. She has led the art community in numerous grant-awarded projects and events which include Community College art classes and school field trip opportunities.
The Middletown Art Center wishes to thank supporters including local sponsors such as The Geysers Calpine, Upstate California Creative Corp, California Arts Council, Middletown Art center members and state and national agencies.
For more information, including videos of the project’s presentation workshops visit:
http://middletownartcenter.org/waterbasket.html
