Ada Thomas
Ada Thomas weaving traditional double-woven Chitimacha baskets
Born
Ada Vilcan

(1924-07-31)July 31, 1924
Chitimacha Reservation, St. Mary Parish, Louisiana
DiedSeptember 6, 1992(1992-09-06) (aged 68)
Charenton, Louisiana
NationalityAmerican
Other namesAda Vilcan Thomas
Occupationweaver
Years active1970–1992
Known fordouble-weave baskets

Ada Thomas (July 31, 1924 – September 6, 1992) was a Chitimachan basket weaver who excelled in double-weave, split rivercane basketry. She was honored as a National Heritage Fellow by the National Endowment for the Arts in 1983. Examples of her weaving are housed in the permanent collections of the Birmingham Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of International Folk Art, among others.

Early life

Ada Vilcan was born on July 31, 1924, on the Chitimacha Reservation, near Charenton, Louisiana, to Jane Bernard and Henry Vilcan. The fourth child in the family,[1] her siblings were Alvin, Hollansworth, Esta/Esther, Raymond and Janet.[2][3] Through the eighth grade, Thomas attended the reservation elementary school, where she also learned the Chitimacha basket weaving techniques from elders, Christine Navarro Paul and her sister-in-law Pauline.[1][Notes 1] The baskets woven by Chitimacha women are unique in that the patterns on the inside and outside are different, as two separate baskets are woven and joined at the rim.[11] Using split cane, known locally as piya, dyed with natural walnut, "la passiance" plant root and lime to produce the traditional black, red and yellow colors, the strips are woven to produce designs of traditional animals of the bayou. Alligators, blackbird's and cow's eyes, hearts, perch, snakes, and turtles are recurring motifs.[12] The plain interior basket is woven first and once the rim is reached, the basket is turned and woven from the rim back to the bottom bringing in the colored design.[13]

Career

After graduating from the reservation school, Vilcan moved to New Orleans, where she worked in an aircraft plant dedicated to the war effort.[14] Though schools were segregated and Native Americans were not allowed to attend black or white high schools,[1] government policy allowed plant workers to attend night school. Working by day and attending school at night, Vilcan was able to earn her high school diploma.[1][14] Upon completing her schooling, she traveled the country, working at various jobs in Washington, D. C., New York City and Miami, Florida. In Miami, she met and married a jeweler and former New York City port official, Charles Thomas,[14] with whom she had three sons: Arthur, Charles Henry, and Raymond.[15]

When her husband died, Thomas returned to the Chitimacha Reservation in 1970, to raise her young sons.[14] While they attended school, she revived the basket weaving craft she had learned as a child.[16] The poverty which had plagued the tribe during the Great Depression when she left the area, had been replaced by prosperity with the growth in the oil industry. While the growth helped her tribal people economically, it also led to abandonment of their traditional crafts. Determined to save their unique basket weaving techniques, Thomas partnered with Stephen Richmond of the Indian Arts and Crafts Board to prepare a show held at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. Richmond helped her secure funds to teach others the techniques, though she had little success in the early days.[16] In 1983, she was one of the artisans honored as a National Heritage Fellow by the National Endowment for the Arts.[11][17]

Thomas taught basket weaving techniques at schools in Charenton[13] and attended many festivals, like the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and the Folklife Festival hosted by the Smithsonian, to both show her works and demonstrate the craft.[16] In her later years, she produced works primarily for privately held collections and museums.[13]

Death and legacy

Thomas died on September 6, 1992, in Charenton.[1] Examples of her weaving are housed in the permanent collections of the Birmingham Museum of Art,[18] the Louisiana Folklife Program,[13] the Metropolitan Museum of Art,[19] the Museum of International Folk Art of Santa Fe, New Mexico[13] and the collections of the Department of the Interior.[16]

Notes

  1. ↑ Many sources give the relationship of Thomas to Paul as that of granddaughter;[1][4] however, census records indicate Paul had no biological children,[5][6][7] as does Melanie Marcotte's biography of Chief Paul given in the Chitimacha Newsletter. She and Chief Benjamin raised tribal orphans,[8] but Vilcan was not orphaned.[9][10]

References

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Johnson 2011.
  2. ↑ U. S. Census 1930, pp. 15A–15B.
  3. ↑ U. S. Census 1940, pp. 3B–4A.
  4. ↑ Carpenter & Marcotte 1998, p. 16.
  5. ↑ U. S. Census 1910, p. 36A.
  6. ↑ U. S. Census 1930, p. 15A.
  7. ↑ U. S. Census 1940, p. 4A.
  8. ↑ Marcotte 1997, p. 6.
  9. ↑ Social Security Death Index 1966.
  10. ↑ Social Security Death Index 1975.
  11. 1 2 Carpenter & Marcotte 1998, p. 19.
  12. ↑ Carpenter & Marcotte 1998, p. 18-19.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 Congdon & Hallmark 2012, p. 312.
  14. 1 2 3 4 Carpenter & Marcotte 1998, p. 17.
  15. ↑ The Daily Iberian 2009.
  16. 1 2 3 4 Carpenter & Marcotte 1998, p. 18.
  17. ↑ Harrington 1983.
  18. ↑ Birmingham Museum of Art 2009.
  19. ↑ Coe 2003, p. 88.

Bibliography

  • Carpenter, Gwen (November 1984). "Two Hands Hold the Secret of Chitimacha Basketry". Louisiana Life. Metairie, Louisiana: Louisiana Life, Ltd. pp. 92–93. ISSN 1042-9980. reprinted in Marcotte, Melanie, ed. (August 1998). "News from the Past". The Chitimacha Newsletter. Chitimacha Reservation, St. Mary Parish, Louisiana: Chitimacha Tribal Council: 16–19. Retrieved August 30, 2018.
  • Coe, Ralph T. (2003). The Responsive Eye: Ralph T. Coe and the Collecting of American Indian Art. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press for the Metropolitan Museum of Art. ISBN 978-1-58839-085-1.
  • Congdon, Kristin G.; Hallmark, Kara Kelley (2012). "Ada Thomas". American Folk Art: A Regional Reference. Vol. I. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. pp. 311–313. ISBN 978-0-313-34937-9.
  • Harrington, Richard (June 25, 1983). "Honoring Just Plain Folks, the Keepers of Tradition". The Washington Post. Washington, D. C. Retrieved August 30, 2018.
  • Johnson, David, ed. (April 5, 2011). "Ada Thomas". knowlouisiana.org. New Orleans, Louisiana: Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities. Archived from the original on November 3, 2017. Retrieved August 29, 2018 – via Encyclopedia of Louisiana.
  • Marcotte, Melanie (August 1997). "News from the Past: Chitimacha Chiefs". The Chitimacha Newsletter. Chitimacha Reservation, St. Mary Parish, Louisiana: Chitimacha Tribal Council: 5–7. Retrieved August 30, 2018.
  • "1910 U.S. Census: St. Mary Parish, Louisiana". FamilySearch. Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration. May 10, 1910. pp. 36A. NARA Series T624, roll 531, lines 1–8. Retrieved August 30, 2018. Question 10: Mother of how many children? Answer: 0.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  • "1930 U.S. Census: St. Mary Parish, Louisiana". FamilySearch. Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration. April 28, 1930. pp. 15A–15B. NARA Series T626, roll 821, lines 46–51. Retrieved August 29, 2018. Benjamin and Christine Paul's household appears on lines 14–20 page 15A.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  • "1940 U.S. Census: St. Mary Parish, Louisiana". FamilySearch. Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration. April 26, 1940. pp. 3B–4A. NARA Series T627, roll 1454, lines 79–80 and 1–5. Retrieved August 29, 2018. Christine Paul's household appears on lines 11–17 page 4A.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  • "Charles H. Thomas". New Iberia, Louisiana: The Daily Iberian. April 17, 2009. Retrieved August 30, 2018.
  • "The Collection at the BMA". artsbma.org. Birmingham, Alabama: Birmingham Museum of Art. 2009. Retrieved August 30, 2018.
  • "United States Social Security Death Index: Henry Vilcan". FamilySearch. Alexandria, Virginia: U.S. Social Security Administration. May 1966. Retrieved August 30, 2018.
  • "United States Social Security Death Index: Jane Vilcan". FamilySearch. Alexandria, Virginia: U.S. Social Security Administration. November 1975. Retrieved August 30, 2018.
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