Ed has woven baskets for over
thirty years. He learned the art
from his great-grandmother,
Julia Jacob of the Suquamish
Tribe, who raised him. When his
Great Grandmother's hands
weakened with age, she told Ed
he would have to make the
baskets. He was 15 years old.
As his skill improved, he found
it to be a very pleasurable and
challenging experience. Grandma
passed away in 1960, and
basketmaking fell by the wayside
as Ed graduated from high
school, entered the Marine Corps
and then the working world. Some
years later in 1969 he started
to revive the old art. He says
he almost waited too long. It
took him four years to regain
the knowledge and skills it
takes to weave a nice looking,
dependable clam basket that he
knows Grandma would be proud of.
Now Ed has been weaving baskets
for over thirty years. He has
learned to make a wide variety
of artifacts including the open
weave burden basket, straight
and crossed warp clam gathering
baskets, clothing, and hats. His
materials are the bark, limbs,
and roots of the western red
cedar, beargrass, sweetgrass,
wild cherry bark, cattail and
horse tail root.
Many people have learned about
Ed's basket weaving through
classes, demonstrations, and
school presentations. To him,
weaving baskets and carving
canoes and paddles is relaxing
and challenging. Click on his
picture to see the details of
his cedar bark vest and basket.
Among Ed's many awards are:
1983 Man of the Year Award by
Indianola
1986 Honorarium by Seattle
Central Community College
1988 "Honored Artist" by Native
American Art Fair, Suquamish
1998 Governor's heritage Award
of Washington State
