Christina Cox

Christina Cox comes from the Nuu-Chah-Nulth First Nation and has been a resident in the Comox Valley, along with her family for many years. Christina has kept up with the tradition of basket weaving and has passed it on to her daughter. The tradition of basket weaving along with the designs you see on these baskets come from her family, who have handed them down through the generations of women, from mother to daughter. Traditionally the colours you see in the cedar baskets were from berries and other vegetation. Today dye is used to colour the cedar, for the materials of long ago are not as easily accessible. It was once known that all women made baskets, but the specialists who excelled in various types of basketry devoted much of their time to their art and were not expected to perform all of the other household duties. They began learning as young children and were encouraged by their mothers or older female relatives, to work the art of basketry. Basketry was carried on by our grandmothers, our mothers, and our aunts, who have become the great teachers to our young today. The tradition of basketry had once become almost extinct like the art of many native cultures.