Native California Arts & Artists: Yesterday & Today

Leah Mata isa California Indian woman of many creative talents, among them regalia making and basketry. It’s no wonder this Rohnert Park resident was recently elected as Secretary for the California Indian BasketWeavers’ Association (CIBA).

A member of the yak tityu tityu (the people) Northern Chumash Tribe located on the Central California Coast, she is currently working with other CIBA members on the upcoming Yesterday & Today exhibit of historic and contemporary baskets on display at the Art of the Americas Show – also known as the Marin Indian Art Show – February 20-22 in San Rafael, CA.

She is also involved in the Yesterday & Today: The Symposium - Reconnecting the Artist with the Art two-day CIBA educational program held in collaboration with K.R. Martindale Show Management (Marin Art Show) and California Academy of Sciences. This event includes presentations and conversations with contemporary basket weavers from across the state, museum curators and collectors who offer insights into basket weaving which is one of California’s oldest art traditions. This also takes place at the Art of the Americas Show, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Feb. 21-22.

“One of the challenges we face as artists who want our art to be sustainable is to help others understand the value of what we do,” explained Mata, an award-winning artist who earned top honors from the Autry Indian Market (2012-Best in Diverse Cultural Arts), and Heard Museum Fair (2013- First Place Traditional Attire).

Rhetorically she asks, how can California Indian artists make a living if they are invisible; if no one knows about the art forms or about the worth of their creations?

Unlike the more well-known Navajo blankets or Southwestern pottery, California Indian arts such as basketry have not received much attention – even as tribal arts. Historically the arts were diminished for several reasons, among them lack of access to natural gathering sites and forced removal from a way of life in which the art forms had purpose.

“There are many Native American Art Markets across the country. Generally, you’ll find very few California Indians at these shows.” That’s because their arts aren’t in demand. And that’s because people do not understand their value.
The worth of these arts, the 47-year-old noted, is not easy to package into a price. Generations of tradition, along with cultivation and harvesting of materials could take years of preparation. And that’s only the start.

For example, a single pine nut necklace with abalone shell, just like Mata’s baskets, hardly fit into a Monday-Friday, 9-5 arrangement that can be metered by the hour.

“Sometimes it can take me and members of my family a month to find the right piece,” she said.

For her and many other California Indian artists, there simply aren’t any assembly line shortcuts.

CIBA, she believes, can help California Indian artists develop opportunities to gauge and promote their work in a way that is both meaningful and respectful of tradition within as well as outside of their own communities.

“Leah is a traditionalist and committed to ensuring Native culture not only survives, but thrives. She brings a wealth of knowledge about non-profit and tribal organizations,” said CIBA Board President Clint McKay (Dry Creek Pomo/Wappo/Wintun ). “And a sense of excitement for and anticipation of helping CIBA continue to grow and strengthen itself to better serve our members, partners and the public. We are fortunate to have Leah as our Board Secretary and I’m honored to be working with her.”

CIBA is a non-profit organization established in 1992 with approximately 1,000 members statewide. It provides opportunities for weavers to convene, learn, exchange information and showcase their work and also offers non-members educational opportunities throughout the year, such as Yesterday & Today.

Mata whose other credits include a 2011 Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship, and a Master Artist recipient for Alliance of California Traditional Arts in 2013, will be exhibiting regalia art at the upcoming 57th Heard Museum Indian Fair Market in Phoenix, Arizona. Celebrating The Art of Basketry will be held March 7-8.

Above photos: Leah Mata and mother (yak tityu tityu-Northern Chumash), the only known historic Northern Chumash basket in California (Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History), Northern Chumash regalia.

If You Go:

• Yesterday & Today: The Exhibit

10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sat. February 21, 11 a.m.- 4 p.m. Sun. February 22
Marin Civic Center/Embassy Suites Hotel, 101 McInnis Parkway, San Rafael, CA. $15/day

• Yesterday & Today: The Symposium - Reconnecting the Artist with the Art

9 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. Sat. February 21 & Sun. February 22, 2015
Embassy Suites Hotel, 101 McInnis Parkway, San Rafael, CA. Tax deductible contribution of $75-$120 ($60/$100 CIBA members).
Details: ciba.org