Basketmaking 101

As many of you know I spent part of my career in the EDUTAINMENT department of the Longaberger Company. A while back Stephanie Gartland, the art teacher at LV Elementary, asked if I could help her out with resources for a History of Basketmaking unit she was going to be doing with the kids. Stephanie is a part of a curriculum committee I'm on whose purpose is to infuse local history into the Licking Valley K -12 curriculum. I sent a note to Tami Longaberger who provided just the right person, Michael Kennedy.

Michael discussed the history of basketmaking back as far as 5000 years when our "hunter/gatherer" ancestors needed ways to carry the things they gathered!

........this all of course tied in with the rich Native American history of our own area including Black Hand Gorge.

Using slides he touched on how the craft of basket making was passed on from generation to generation.