(Above: What If: Proof of Concept II: Woven natural and dyed western red cedar bark. 9″ diameter x 5″ height.
Edited by Randi Bjornstad
In introducing its latest exhibit, Thirty Years of Gathering/Making, White Lotus Gallery describes anthropologist and Native American historian Mariana Mace as “a maker for most of her life and part of the worldwide and generations-long community of women who weave.”
Woven handmade paper with design inspired by an African textile, clay. 10″ wide x 20″ high x 0.5″ deep
Her education and art career has included decades of learning from indigenous Northwest basket makers, and in the process she has become a respected maker and teacher in her own right.
For this show, Mace “has dressed up the folded bark baskets used in the Northwest for gathering berries,” the White Lotus announcement says, as well as “works created as a result of many ‘what if’ moments that pop up in her mind.”
The results include new ways of creating — a variation on an old technique or using a new material — and also confronting new pressures on the ancient arts in terms of availability of traditional materials because of shrinking environments for their growth from both increased urban and rural development and also the effects of climate change on traditionally available plants.
One way Mace has responded to these changes in the availability of traditional basket materials has been to incorporate new materials, such as many different types of paper, in her creations.
Thirty Years of Gathering/Making: Works by Mariana Mace
When: Through Jan. 17, 2026
Where: White Lotus Gallery, 767 Willamette St., Eugene
Regular gallery hours: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday
Information: www.wlotus.com
