Artist Carol Emarthle Douglas calls on her Northern Arapaho, Seminole roots in her basket designs

The baskets coil in a circle of culture and life, their designs stitched by nimble fingers capturing an ancient tradition.

Carol Emarthle Douglas’ basketry journey began when she was pregnant with her first child and looking for something to occupy her time.

Born of a Northern Arapaho mother and a Seminole father, the artist knew practically nothing about her cultural heritage until she began exploring basket making.

In 2015, the Seattle-based Douglas took Best of Show in the Santa Fe Indian Market.

She’ll be bringing more weavings to the 2023 Santa Fe Indian Market on the Plaza on Saturday, Aug. 19, and Sunday, Aug. 20. More than 1,000 artists from the U.S. and Canada, from more than 200 tribes, will be showcasing jewelry, pottery, textiles, sculpture, paintings and more throughout the weekend at the largest and most prestigious Native art market in the world.

Douglas grew up in Oklahoma City and in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

“My mother grew up in an orphanage in Wyoming, so she, of course, wasn’t taught her culture. She was raised by nuns.

“Dad lived on an allotment,” she added. “They were farmers.”

Douglas’ paternal grandparents survived the Trail of Tears, the forced displacement of about 60,000 Native people from Florida to Oklahoma between 1830 and 1850 by the U.S. government.

“There were nine kids, so a lot of them went to boarding schools,” she said. “They were raised by Southern Baptists. So my parents, they didn’t know what to teach us culturally.”

So when she took a class at the Basketry School of Seattle, where she had moved with her husband, she wasn’t looking to explore her lost heritage. But when she joined the Northwest Basket Guild, she was fascinated by a coiled basket made with contemporary materials.

“I thought, wow, these are so cool,” Douglas said. “They looked similar to the California basket weavers — the coiled baskets. I signed up for the class and got hooked.”

At first, she wove the baskets to keep busy. She gave them away to friends. Finally, someone suggested she sell them.

In 1998, she attended an Indian market in Portland, Oregon, entered a piece and took first place. In 1999, she attended the Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair and Market, where she sold well. She’s been showing there and winning ribbons ever since. She first came to Santa Fe in 2000.

Douglas uses the traditional coiled technique with hemp twine and waxed linen thread.

“It’s like a sewing motion,” she said. “You connect the lower portion with the upper coil.”

She is inspired by her Northern Arapaho and Seminole heritage, basing some of her designs on the Plains-style beadwork, ledger art and parfleche designs from her mother’s tribe. She also incorporates the colors and patterns of Seminole patchwork.

She researched the basket styles of the Navajo, Apache, Como, Cherokee, Choctaw, Haida and Penobscot tribes to weave the figures circling her Best in Show winning piece.

“They’re each carrying a burden basket,” she said.

She used black ash, sweet grass, cedar bark and yucca to create the tiny baskets.

She sketches out her design first, often spending from two to three months on a large piece.

She knew she had made it when a customer spent all night sitting in a chair by her booth to be the first in line.

Today she creates her large baskets and smaller versions, as well as jewelry.

“I always try to do something different,” she said. “Last year, I did a doll. I won first place in division for that. It’s all coiled.”