Annie Antone (born 1955) is a Native American Tohono O'odham basket weaver from Gila Bend, Arizona.

Background

Annie Antone was born in

Tucson, Arizona , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

in 1955. She learned how to weave

basket A basket is a container that is traditionally constructed from stiff fibers and can be made from a range of materials, including wood splints, runners, and cane. While most baskets are made from plant materials, other materials such as horsehai ...

s from her mother,McFadden and Taubman, 219 Irene Antone. Annie began at the age of 19 and sold her first basket for $10. She gave the money to her mother.Krol, Debra Utacia
The Art of Basketry: Weaving New Life into Old Forms.
''Native Peoples Magazine.'' 29 Dec 2005. (retrieved 21 April 2009) Currently she lives on the Gila Bend Reservation.

Basketry

Antone only uses plant materials harvested from her homeland, the

Sonoran Desert The Sonoran Desert ( es, Desierto de Sonora) is a desert in North America and ecoregion that covers the northwestern Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur, as well as part of the southwestern United States (in Ariz ...

. These include

yucca ''Yucca'' is a genus of perennial plant, perennial shrubs and trees in the family (biology), family Asparagaceae, subfamily Agavoideae. Its 40–50 species are notable for their Rosette (botany), rosettes of evergreen, tough, sword-shaped Leaf, ...

, devil's claw, and

bear grass ''Xerophyllum tenax'' is a North American species of plants in the corn lily family. It is known by several common names, including bear grass, soap grass, quip-quip, and Indian basket grass. Ecology ''Xerophyllum tenax'' has flowers with si ...

. Her techniques in making coiled baskets are traditional, but her designs are completely unique. She specializes in highly graphic, pictorial imagery and has featured realistic images of

panther Panther may refer to: Large cats *Pantherinae, the cat subfamily that contains the genera ''Panthera'' and ''Neofelis'' **'' Panthera'', the cat genus that contains tigers, lions, jaguars and leopards. *** Jaguar (''Panthera onca''), found in So ...

s and semi-tractor trailers. She wove a basket featuring the traditional flute player, surrounded by musical notes forming a specific song. This piece is on display in the Native American art collection of the Casino Arizona. The curator there, Aleta Rinlero says of Antone's work: "She doesn't weave baskets, she weaves concepts." Ancient Hohokam

pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other ceramic materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. Major types include earthenware, stoneware and ...

designs also provide Antone with inspiration for basket designs, as have the

flora Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous (ecology), indigenous) native plant, native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' ...

and

fauna Fauna is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is ''flora'', and for fungi, it is ''funga''. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively referred to as ''Biota (ecology ...

of the Sonoran Desert. To achieve her complex designs, she carefully sketches them out before weaving. She has exhibited throughout the country, as well as the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

, and won awards at the

Heard Museum The Heard Museum is a private, not-for-profit museum in Phoenix, Arizona, United States, dedicated to the advancement of American Indian art. It presents the stories of American Indian people from a first-person perspective, as well as exhibitio ...

Guild Indian Fair and Market, Red Earth, Gallup Ceremonial, the O’odham Tash Rodeo and Fair, and the

Santa Fe Indian Market The Santa Fe Indian Market is an annual art market held in Santa Fe, New Mexico on the weekend following the third Thursday in August. The event draws an estimated 150,000 people to the city from around the world. The Southwestern Association for ...

. She was first invited to exhibit and demonstrate basketry at 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 ...

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

in Washington, D.C. in 1992Greene, 42 and has been invited back by 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 ...

many times.

Notes

References

*Greene, Jacqueline Dembar. ''The Tohono O'odham.'' London: Franklin Watts, 1998. . *McFadden, David Revere and Ellen Napiura Taubman. ''Changing Hands: Art without Reservation 1: Contemporary Native North American Art from the Southwest.'' New York: Museum of Arts and Design, 2002. . *Wertikin, Gerard and Lee Kogan. ''Encyclopedia of American Folk Art.'' New York: Routledge, 2003. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Antone, Annie Native American basket weavers 1955 births Tohono O'odham people Living people 20th-century American women artists Native American women artists Women basketweavers 20th-century Native Americans 21st-century Native Americans 20th-century Native American women 21st-century Native American women Artists from Arizona Native American people from Arizona People from Maricopa County, Arizona

Background

Basketry

See also

Notes

References