Rabbit Basket (1997)

The rabbit is one of Bonnie Bitsinnie’s favorite images to weave. Once hunted for meat and their soft fur, rabbits are still part of everyday life in Dinétah (the Navajo homeland). A central figure in Diné (Navajo) creation stories, Gah (Rabbit) usually gets the better of Ma’ii (Coyote). Ute and Paiute artists living near the Diné in Utah were the first to explore the rabbit motif on basketry and it is now a popular image with Diné weavers. Bonnie weaves a timid cottontail in earthy red brown. She uses the same color to enhance the edge of the basket. In this small diameter basket, Bonnie’s straight, tight stitches make clean work of this study of a beloved creature in positive and negative space.