Susan Billy (born April 27, 1951) is a Native American

Pomo The Pomo are an Indigenous people of California. Historical Pomo territory in Northern California was large, bordered by the Pacific Coast to the west, extending inland to Clear Lake, and mainly between Cleone and Duncans Point. One small grou ...

basket weaver from the Hopland Band Pomo Indians of Northern California.

Life

Billy was born in Hot Springs, South Dakota in 1951. She owns and operates Bead Fever, a bead store in Ukiah, CA. She is the granddaughter of Pomo basket weaver

Susan Santiago Billy Susan (Susie) Santiago Billy (October 5, 1884 – November 20, 1968) born Andrea Susan Santiago, was a Native American Pomo basket weaver from the Hopland Band Pomo Indians of California in Northern California. Her parents were Silva Santiago a ...

. She grew up outside of Washington D.C. in Virginia, where her father worked for the

Veterans Administration The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is a Cabinet-level executive branch department of the federal government charged with providing life-long healthcare services to eligible military veterans at the 170 VA medical centers and ...

. In 1973, Billy moved to California and soon after located to

Ukiah, California Ukiah ( ; Pomo: ''Yokaya'', meaning "deep valley") is the county seat and largest city of Mendocino County, California, with a population of 16,607 at the 2020 census. With its accessible location along the U.S. Route 101 corridor, Ukiah serves ...

, where she studied Pomo basket weaving under her great aunt

Elsie Allen Elsie Comanche Allen (September 22, 1899 – December 31, 1990) was a Native American Pomo basket weaver from the Cloverdale Rancheria of Pomo Indians of California in Northern California, significant as for historically categorizing and teach ...

for 15 years. In that time, Billy became familiar with the dozen shapes and almost 300 patterns traditionally used in Pomo basketry. Allen had hoped to pass on her basket-weaving knowledge but had thought no young people were interested until Billy arrived. She had grown up with several baskets by her grandmother Susan Santiago Billy which occupied a place of reverence during her childhood but she never thought at the time she would be a weaver. By the time she showed interest in basket weaving, her grandmother had died. Billy received her grandmother's basket-making tools from Allen. In 1990 Billy began her research for a 1994 exhibition, “Remember your Relations: The Elsie Allen Baskets and Family” which showed at the

Grace Hudson Museum The Grace Hudson Museum in Ukiah, California, is adjacent to the Sun House which artist Grace Hudson and her husband John designed and had built in 1911. They lived there until their deaths in 1936 and 1935, respectively. Today the house and museum ...

in Ukiah, California, and at the

Oakland Museum of California The Oakland Museum of California or OMCA (formerly the Oakland Museum) is an interdisciplinary museum dedicated to the art, history, and natural science of California, located adjacent to Oak Street, 10th Street, and 11th Street in Oakland, Cali ...

, where she was guest curator for the show and a coauthor of the book by the same name. Billy has curated collections at a number of museums, including the

American Museum of Natural History The American Museum of Natural History (abbreviated as AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. In Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 26 inter ...

, the

Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 1.5 million objects. Located near the Prospect Heights, Crown H ...

, the

De Young Museum The de Young Museum, formally the M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, is a fine arts museum located in San Francisco, California. Located in Golden Gate Park, it is a component of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, along with the Legion of Honor ...

, the Mendocino County Museum, the

National Museum of the American Indian The National Museum of the American Indian is a museum in the United States devoted to the culture of the indigenous peoples of the Americas. It is part of the Smithsonian Institution group of museums and research centers. The museum has three ...

, and the

National Museum of Natural History The National Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. It has free admission and is open 364 days a year. In 2021, with 7 ...

Exhibits

* ''Hearts of Our People: Native Women Artists,'' (2019),

Minneapolis Institute of Art The Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) is an arts museum located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. Home to more than 90,000 works of art representing 5,000 years of world history, Mia is one of the largest art museums in the United State ...

, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Billy, Susan 1951 births Living people Native American basket weavers People from South Dakota Pomo people Native American artists 20th-century American women artists Native Americans in California Native American women artists Women basketweavers 20th-century Native Americans 21st-century Native Americans 20th-century Native American women 21st-century Native American women