NATCHITOCHES – Pine needle basket maker Becky Thomas-Meziere will be named a Louisiana Tradition Bearer by the Louisiana Folklife Commission and honored at a ceremony on Saturday, Oct. 17 at 2 p.m. at the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and Northwest Louisiana History Museum at 800 Front St. in Natchitoches. Serving as a folklife ambassador for the Louisiana Folklife Commission, Dr. Shane Rasmussen, professor of English and director of the Louisiana Folklife Center at Northwestern State University, will talk with Thomas-Meziere about her lifetime endeavors preserving Louisiana’s traditional folklife. The event is free and open to the public.
Thomas-Meziere is a traditional pine needle basket maker of Choctaw descent who lives in Natchitoches Parish. She is an enrolled member of the Clifton Choctaw Tribe with family ties to the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. As a young child Thomas-Meziere’s mother handed down the traditional Native American methods and techniques of gathering long leaf pine needles from the local forest, how to use raw material to make baskets and the art of weaving. A renowned master basket weaver with over 30 years of experience, Thomas-Meziere has received numerous awards, the most recent being The Diverse Heritage Award from The Louisiana Trust for Historic Preservation (LTHP). Her baskets are in private and public collections throughout the world including The Grand Village of the Natchez Indians and The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation. She has demonstrated her traditional art form of pine needle basket making in multiple juried art shows and festivals such as The New Orleans JazzFest Native American Village and the annual Tunica Biloxi Tribe Intertribal Basketry Summit. She is active in promoting awareness of traditional pine needle basket making and the importance of passing down this rare art form to younger generations.
The ceremony and discussion are part of a series of events throughout the state for Folklife Month in Louisiana. The event is sponsored by the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and Northwest Louisiana History Museum, the Louisiana Folklife Center and the Louisiana Folklore Society and the Louisiana Division of the Arts and the Department of Culture, Recreation, and Tourism. Funding is also provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, Art Works and the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, in collaboration with the Louisiana Folklife Commission.
For more information, call the Louisiana Folklife Center at (318) 357-4327, email folklife@nsula.edu, or go to nsula.edu/folklife/.