Julia Florence Parker (born February 1928) is a

Coast Miwok Coast Miwok are an indigenous people that was the second-largest group of Miwok people. Coast Miwok inhabited the general area of modern Marin County and southern Sonoma County in Northern California, from the Golden Gate north to Duncans Poi ...

- Kashaya Pomo basket weaver. Parker studied with some of the leading 20th century indigenous Californian basketweavers: Lucy Telles (

Yosemite Miwok The Plains and Sierra Miwok were once the largest group of California Indian Miwok people, indigenous to California. Their homeland included regions of the Sacramento Valley, San Joaquin Valley, and the Sierra Nevada. Geography The Plains an ...

Mono Lake Paiute The Kucadikadi are a band of Northern Paiute people who live near Mono Lake in Mono County, California. They are the southernmost band of Northern Paiute.Fowler and Liljeblad 437Arkush, Brooke S"Historic Northern Paiute Winter Houses in Mono Basi ...

); Mabel McKay, ( Cache Creek Pomo-

Patwin The Patwin (also Patween, Southern Wintu) are a band of Wintun people native to the area of Northern California. The Patwin comprise the southern branch of the Wintun group, native inhabitants of California since approximately 500 AD. The Patw ...

) and

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 teachi ...

( Cloverdale Pomo). Over the last 40 years, Parker has become one of the preeminent Native American basket makers in California. She is a respected elder of the

Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria The Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, formerly known as the Federated Coast Miwok, is a federally recognized American Indian tribe of Coast Miwok and Southern Pomo Indians. The tribe was officially restored to federal recognition in 2000 by th ...

and long-time resident of

Yosemite Valley Yosemite Valley ( ; ''Yosemite'', Miwok for "killer") is a glacial valley in Yosemite National Park in the western Sierra Nevada mountains of Central California. The valley is about long and deep, surrounded by high granite summits such as Hal ...

. Parker is prolific artist, teacher, and storyteller.

Background

Julia Parker was born in February 1928 in Marin County, California. Her father was

, and her mother was Kashaya Pomo. They both died when Parker was still young, so she and her siblings were sent to a Native American boarding school. In 1945, when Parker was 17 years old, she married Ralph Parker. Ralph, grandson of Lucy Telles, is thought to be the last fullblood

. The couple moved to Yosemite, where Parker began her studies of basketry with Telles. She continued her training with

Carrie Bethel Carrie McGowan Bethel (18981974) was a Mono Lake Paiute – Kucadikadi (Northern Paiute) basketmaker associated with Yosemite National Park. She was born Carrie McGowan in Lee Vining, California, and began making baskets at age tw ...

, Minnie Mike, and

Career

Since 1960, Parker has worked as a cultural specialist at the

Yosemite Museum The Yosemite Museum is located in Yosemite Valley in Yosemite National Park in California. Founded in 1926 through the efforts of Ansel Franklin Hall, the museum's displays focus on the heritage and culture of the Ahwahnechee people who lived ...

and interprets the cultural history of Yosemite Valley tribes to park visitors. She took over for Lucy Telles as the cultural demonstrator at the park. She demonstrates basket weaving and acorn processing. She has taught and lectured across the United States at universities, cultural centers, and schools. She has traveled to Alaska, Hawaii, and Australia to meet with indigenous artists and has been invited by numerous museums, including the

National Museum of the American Indian, George Gustav Heye Center The National Museum of the American Indian–New York, the George Gustav Heye Center, is a branch of the National Museum of the American Indian at the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House in Manhattan, New York City. The museum is part of the Sm ...

in New York City, to consult with specialists about collections stored in their facilities.

Exhibitions and awards

In 2004, Parker's work was the subject of a major retrospective exhibition, ''The Past in Present Tense: Four Decades of Julia Parker Baskets,'' curated by Deborah Valoma and installed at the Bedford Gallery in Walnut Creek. In the same year she was featured in a segment of KQED television's program, ''Spark''. Parker's work is in permanent collections of 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 ...

, Washington, DC; the Yosemite Museum, Yosemite National Park; the Norwegian Ski Association headquarters, Oslo, Norway; the private collection of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom; and numerous other private collections. In 2006,

California College of the Arts California College of the Arts (CCA) is a private art school in San Francisco, California. It was founded in Berkeley, California in 1907 and moved to a historic estate in Oakland, California in 1922. In 1996 it opened a second campus in Sa ...

conferred an

honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...

on Parker; in May 2021 she received an honorary doctorate from

California State University, Fresno California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) is a public university in Fresno, California. It is one of 23 campuses in the California State University system. The university had a fall 2020 enrollment of 25,341 students. It offers bache ...

. In 2007, Parker was the recipient of a

National Heritage Fellowship The National Heritage Fellowship is a lifetime honor presented to master folk and traditional artists by the National Endowment for the Arts. Similar to Japan's Living National Treasure award, the Fellowship is the United States government's ...

from the

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...

, the United States' highest honor in the folk and traditional arts.

References

External links

produced by Wallace Murray and Tim Campbell, filmed at

Kule Loklo Kule Loklo ("Bear Valley") is a recreated Coast Miwok Native American village located a short walk from the visitor center of the Point Reyes National Seashore, in Marin County, California. Kule Loklo was originally created in the 1970s by th ...

in Point Reyes {{DEFAULTSORT:Parker, Julia F. 20th-century Native American women 20th-century Native Americans 21st-century Native American women 21st-century Native Americans Native American basket weavers Native American women artists American women artists Women basketweavers National Heritage Fellowship winners Miwok Pomo people Native American people from California Yosemite National Park People from Mariposa County, California People from Marin County, California 1928 births Living people Artists from California

Background

Career

Exhibitions and awards

Further reading

References

External links