On February 6 at 2:00 p.m., Justin Farmer, Native American basket maker, will give a presentation at the Temecula Valley Museum.

Farmer, a noted authority on Native California basketry, will show slides and give a general review of the history of basketry in California. The gallery talk is presented in conjunction with the publication of his exhibition catalogue, "Southern California Luiseño Indian Baskets."

The exhibition catalogue and the presentation are based on a major exhibition of Indian baskets recently mounted at the Riverside Municipal Museum. The exhibition commemorates the issuance of a US Postal Service pane of 37-cent stamps, one of which depicts a Luiseño basket in the Riverside museum’s collection. The catalogue contains a history of Southern California Indians and their basketry but concentrates on the Luiseño Indians from San Diego and Riverside Counties. Of the 76 baskets illustrated Advertisement

[ Berry-Bell and Hall Mortuary ] in the text, most were collected circa 1890-1900 and thus represent basketry early in, or even before start of, the Indian basketry renaissance (1900 to 1930).

The catalogue contains 125 color photographs and 11 black and white antique photographs, plus a rather detailed description of each basket. Of particular interest are nine pages of tables indicating the presence or absence of 60 basketry characteristics. A summary table graphically illustrates the preponderance of each of those 60 characteristics. Also of special interest is a discussion of unintentional bias, so often found in major Indian basket collection.

Farmer will be available to autograph copies of the catalogue following the presentation. The catalogue will be available for sale in the museum gift shop.

The Temecula Valley Museum is located at 28314 Mercedes.

To learn more call Wendell Ott, museum services manager, at (951) 694-6450.