Mary Jane Dudley

Mary Jane Dudley was thirteen years old, one of seven children, when she made her first basket. She learned by watching both of her parents weave until midnight, and while she was proud of the one she crafted, that first piece was "really bad, but it was in the shape of a basket. [I tell my Mom] I've always regretted not keeping my first basket." She learned to cut the Arizona cottonwood sticks down by the river in San Carlos or Peridot and to harvest willow from San Carlos, Fort Thomas or the White Mountains. It takes between two and three hours to bend the cottonwood branches, cut and then gather them; smaller trees are the best because they're younger and softer. For bigger ceremonial baskets she will use thicker sticks, as more support is needed. The willow strips are split three ways, peeled, and woven as quickly as possibly so they won't dry out- or they can be stored in Ziploc bags for later use. She will then grade the cottonwood sticks and begin weaving the willow strips between them, much like a loom. "I start at the bottom and work up!"

Mary Jane creates baskets on commission and she also sells to purveyors of Native American art, such as Globe, Arizona's Pickle Barrel Trading Post. "We absolutely love her work-- her attention to detail and the tightness of her weaving is incredible," says Kelly Moss, who with her husband Jim has owned the Pickle Barrel since 2003. To Dudley, this is a far cry from that first basket she sold to Rupkey's Trading Post in Peridot so many years ago. "I didn't know how to sell a basket then," she says. "I was really happy and appreciated what they did for me." Today her biggest challenge is getting them done in time: Dudley is a very busy woman.

SOURCE - https://picklebarreltradingpost.com/blogs/native-american-cultures-and-arts/apache-burden-baskets-the-art-of-mary-jane-dudley?srsltid=AfmBOoox0vJb01I32mgMOjs4bByU4gEPbRYDVuDjYYDqTMTToiwEeW0a (Sept, 2025)