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Press Releases
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Commissioned Native American basket is the first of its kind to be made in nearly 250 years
Free community celebration on Saturday, July 28, from 1 to 3 pm, honors Native American traditions, commemorates 25th anniversary of News from Native California magazine, and welcomes Ohlone basket into OMCA's collection.
OAKLAND, CA--- The Oakland Museum of California and Heyday are proud to co-present a history-making community celebration on Saturday, July 28, from 1:00 to 3:00 pm, in the beautiful gardens of the Oakland Museum of California. The event honors theunveiling of Ohlone artist and scholar Linda Yamane's commissioned ceremonial Ohlone basket, and ceremonially welcomes the basket into OMCA's collection. Featuring 20,000 stitches, several thousand feathers, and 1,200 handcrafted Olivella shell beads, the extremely rare basket took Yamane nearly three years to create, and is the first of its kind to be made in almost 250 years. In honor of this historic welcoming event, the Museum is offering free admission from 1 to 5 pm that day.
The Ohlone Basket Welcoming Celebration, to take place in OMCA's lushly landscaped gardens, will welcome Yamane's basket into the Museum's renowned collection of over 2,500 Native Californian baskets. In honor of the occasion, OMCA's gardens will come alive with festivities for the whole family, including traditional song and dance, Native crafts, storytelling circles, and Native books and magazines from Heyday's collection. The event will also celebrate the 25th anniversary of News from Native California, Heyday's quarterly magazine devoted to California's indigenous people.
"We could not be more honored to welcome this extraordinary art work, created by Linda Yamane and expressing the vital tradition of Native basket-making in California, into the Museum's collection," said Lori Fogarty, Director and CEO of the Oakland Museum of California. "The opportunity to commission this beautiful basket through the generous support of the Oakland Museum Women's Board not only enables us to tell the many stories of California, but also highlights the continuing history and contributions of Native people in our state. This is a mission shared by Heyday, and we are also pleased to celebrate the gift of this basket as part of Heyday's commemoration of its long-standing publication focused on Native culture."
In 2010, OMCA commissioned Yamane to create the basket to enhance the Museum's Native American collection. Welcoming the basket into OMCA's Gallery of California History marks the Museum's strong commitment to preserving Native culture and showcasing the diverse community voices that make up California history. "This basket is especially significant to OMCA because so few Ohlone baskets have survived, and none were in the Museum's collections before now," said Louise Pubols, OMCA Senior Curator of History. "Linda has worked for years to research and revive the basket-making art of her ancestors. With this beautiful basket, that tradition can now be shared with all our visitors."
ABOUT THE OAKLAND MUSEUM OF CALIFORNIA
The Oakland Museum of California OMCA brings together collections of art, history and natural science under one roof to tell the extraordinary stories of California and its people.
OMCA's groundbreaking exhibits tell the many stories that comprise California with many voices, often drawing on first-person accounts by people who have shaped California's cultural heritage. Visitors are invited to actively participate in the Museum as they learn about the natural, artistic, and social forces that affect the state, and investigate their own role in both its history and its future. With more than 1.8 million objects, OMCA is a leading cultural institution of the Bay Area and a resource for the research and understanding of California's dynamic cultural and environmental heritage. OMCA's transformation continues with the renovation of the Gallery of California Natural Sciences, which is currently underway and will be completed in June 2013.
VISITOR INFORMATION
The Oakland Museum of California OMCA is at 1000 Oak Street, at 10th Street, in Oakland. OMCA is situated between downtown Oakland and Lake Merritt. Museum admission is $12 general $9 seniors and students with valid ID, $6 youth ages 9 to 17, and free for Members and children 8 and under. OMCA offers onsite underground parking and is conveniently located one block from the Lake Merritt BART station, on the corner of 10th Street and Oak Street. The accessibility ramp is located at the new 1000 Oak Street main entrance. For more information, visit museumca.org.
ABOUT HEYDAY
Heyday is an independent, nonprofit publisher and unique cultural institution that promotes widespread awareness and celebration of California's many cultures, landscapes, and boundary-breaking ideas. Heyday publishes about 25 new books a year, sponsors over 200 events, and participates vigorously in the cultural life of California. Since 1987 Heyday has also published a quarterly magazine, News from Native California, on California Indian culture and history which is read avidly on Indian reservations and in universities alike, prompting the Los Angeles Times to characterize it as probably having "the widest literacy range of any periodical in the Western Hemisphere." For more information visit heydaybooks.com.
For more images and interviews, please contact:
Kelly A. Koski: 510-318-8453 or communications@museumca.org
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