Mabel McKay (1907–1993) was a member of the Long Valley Cache Creek

Pomo The Pomo are a Indigenous peoples of California, Native American people of California. Historical Pomo territory in Northern California was large, bordered by the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast to the west, extending inland to ...

Indians and was of

Patwin The Patwin (also Patween and Southern Wintu) are a band of Wintun people in Northern California. The Patwin comprise the southern branch of the Wintun group, native inhabitants of California since approximately 500. Today, Patwin people are en ...

descent. She was the last dreamer of the Pomo people and was renowned for her

basket weaving Basket weaving (also basketry or basket making) is the process of weaving or sewing pliable materials into three-dimensional artifacts, such as baskets, mats, mesh bags or even furniture. Craftspeople and artists specialized in making baskets ...

. She sat on California's first Native American Heritage Commission.

Life

McKay was born on January 12, 1907, in

Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million Lake County, California Lake County is a County (United States), county located in the north central portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 68,163. The county seat is Lakeport, California, Lakepor ...

. Her father was Yanta Boone (Potter Valley Pomo) and her mother was Daisy Hansen (Lolsel Cache Creek Pomo). She was raised by her maternal grandmother, Sarah Taylor, who taught her the Long Valley Cache Creek language and how to forage for medicinal plants. At the age of eight, she was guided by her dreams to weave her first basket. She did not attend school past the third grade due to a series of illnesses.

Basket-weaving

McKay claimed that weaving, for her, was a spiritual path rather than a craft. She claimed she was strictly instructed by Spirit as to how and what to weave. Because of the sacred nature of her weaving, she usually wove in private. In keeping with Pomo tradition, she used

sedge The Cyperaceae () are a family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as wikt:sedge, sedges. The family (biology), family is large; botanists have species description, described some 5,500 known species in about 90 ...

for her baskets and

redbud ''Cercis'' is a genus of about 10 species in the subfamily Cercidoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. It contains small deciduous trees or large shrubs commonly known as redbuds in the USA. They are characterised by simple, rounded to heart-sha ...

for the red designs. Some of her baskets also used feathers.Her baskets were featured in many newspapers and she was viewed as a prodigy. She began giving demonstrations in the State Indian Museum in Sacramento, where she refused to sell the baskets she made and instead gave them as gifts. In the late 1970s she began teaching basket-weaving classes for both native and non-native students. She continued with her baskets until death, and many have been exhibited in museums such as the

National Museum of Natural History The National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. It has free admission and is open 364 days a year. With 4.4 ...

Academic and advisory work

In the late 1960s, McKay was on the Native American Advisory Council for a proposed dam in Dry Creek, which threatened to disturb an ancestral Pomo village site and long-standing beds of sedge. Although they could not prevent the dam's construction, the council was able to document the site and transplant some of the sedge beds. McKay also spoke at universities and served as a cultural consultant for anthropologists. She spoke at

the New School The New School is a Private university, private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for p ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

with Essie Parrish on March 14, 1972. In 1976 she was appointed to California's first Native American Heritage Commission.

Medicine

McKay also became a well known-healer among those in her community. She was one of the last Pomo dream doctors, and would often travel great distances to tend to her patients.

Personal life

Prior to the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Mabel married Charlie McKay, with whom she had a son, Marshall (1952–2021). After Charlie died in the 1960s, McKay worked at an apple cannery.

Death

McKay died on May 31, 1993, and was buried next to Essie Parish in the Kashaya Pomo cemetery.

Exhibits

From 2016 to 2017 the

Autry Museum of the American West The Autry Museum of the American West (Autry National Center) is a museum in Los Angeles, California, dedicated to exploring an inclusive history of the American West. Founded in 1988, the museum presents a wide range of exhibitions and pub ...

exhibited McKay's work in an exhibit titled "The Life and Work of Mabel McKay". Her son, Marshall McKay, helped put together the exhibit.

Legacy

Greg Sarris Gregory Michael Sarris (born February 12, 1952) is the Chairman of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria (since 1992) and the recent Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Smithsonian Institution, Smithsonian's National Museum of the American ...

published a biography of Mabel in 1997, called ''Weaving the Dream'' (University of California Press). McKay's work has been cited as having inspired other artists, including Dineh artist Leatrice Mikkelsen.