Pretty much every First Nations culture in North America had some form of hand-crafted basketry, both for practical purposes and also as an expression of their tribal art. The Northwest coastal areas of Canada and throughout Alaska, with its various native cultures are no exception. These tribal baskets have been historically created in the villages from materials sourced locally: native beach grass, tree bark and roots, and even baleen from the mouth of a whale.
The westernization and dislocation of various native cultures lead to an almost extinction of tribal basket weaving; but recently there has been movement to preserve and protect this disappearing native art. The younger generation of artists is slowly growing, but the finest examples of indigenous basket weaving in the Northwest coast and Alaska may be seen primarily in older baskets created in simpler times in the past by elders who are no longer with us.
In Alaska the primary examples of native basketry consist primarily of: Baleen baskets produced by the northern Alaska eskimo, Inupiaq, and other coastal arctic villages. This material is extremely rare, and the stable of native artists producing them very limited, as they come from a very few Bering Sea villages. Grass baskets produced in Western Alaska by the tribes, Yupik and Aleut inhabiting the coastal ares of Bristol Bay and the Aleutian Islands. Again, this art is considered endangered, as the younger weavers are few and the older master weavers are slowly dying out. Spruce root baskets, traditionally produced in the Southeast Alaska coastal area by the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimsian tribal artists, are considered the most rare and perhaps the most endangered and valuable. Just a handful of contemporary tribal basket weavers exist practicing this type of weaving, which is most difficult and intricate and labor intensive.
All of the native tribal art of basketry in Alaska is facing extinction due to the lack of younger and new artists learning the skills. With less than dozen contemporary artists producing these on a regular basis, it is perhaps easier for collectors to find an older example or even an antique basket produced over 50 years ago. Indigenous tribal basketry is represented by very few fine art galleries in Alaska, and the Russian American Company in Sitka always has as inventory of both new and antique Alaska Tribal arts, including the finest baleen, spruce root, and native grass baskets.
