June 2024’s Seneca-Iroquois National Museum Elder Spotlight featured Artist and Basket Maker, Nettie Watt
Nettie Huff Watt (1901-1987) was Turtle Clan and from the Allegany Reservation. A renown basket maker, many of her pieces can be found in the collections of famous institutions such as Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian and the New York State Museum.
Nettie was a knowledge-bearer of traditional Seneca basket making. She continued to create ash and wood splint baskets even in the face of the commercialization that sharply diminished the practice beginning in the 1940’s. At her home she shared a basket-making shop with her daughter, Ruth Watt Piscitelli, a master basket maker herself.
Together they passed the tradition down to Nettie’s grand-daughters and Ruth’s nieces, Nancy Pierce Toth and Kathy Pierce Mitchell. Nettie’s and her family’s baskets continue to inspire artists today. Become inspired yourself by scrolling through some of Nettie’s beautiful weaving work housed in SINM’s collection’s today.
