The rich diversity and stunning beauty of North American Indian baskets is celebrated in "The Spirit of the Basket," a show of 85 intricately woven utilitarian and decorative containers in the Library Gallery at California State University, Sacramento.

Drawn from the collection of the California Indian Heritage Center, California State Parks, the baskets come from regions as far from each other as Alaska and the southeastern United States. The show offers a chance to compare the different weaving techniques and styles distinct to each culture within those regions.

Exhibition curator Ileana Maestas said the California Indian Heritage Center has 6,500 baskets in its collection, 4,000 from California, the rest from other parts of North America. The California baskets have been shown many times, but this is the first time in 30 years that baskets from other parts of North America, some once owned by the de Young Museum in San Francisco, have been assembled in an exhibit.

The six regions covered are the Pacific Northwest, Arctic/Alaska, the Northeast, California, the Southwest and the Southeast. The materials used in basketry, Maestas explained, are determined by the plant life found in each part of the country. Arctic/Alaska baskets, which come from an area where plant life is scarce, tend to be pale and delicate, their subtle tones broken occasionally by dyed moose hair or colored bits of silk thread gained in trade.

Baskets from the Pacific Northwest draw from lusher sources of vegetation, said Maestas. According to writer Stephanie Mercado, natural fibers found in that region include spruce roots, bear grass leaves, woodwardia fern stems and hazelnut sticks.

One of the examples from the Pacific Northwest on view is a storage basket from the Salish, Thompson River culture, that dates to the late 19th century. It is worn from use but retains its beauty nonetheless. Other baskets made for the tourist trade are more pristine. One of the most exciting is a Sally Bag from the Wasco tribe with designs of dogs woven into the basket.

The desert regions of the Southwest, Mercado writes, used fibers from the Joshua tree, desert fan palms, and devil's claw. Before they went out to pick materials, weavers asked for nature's permission to pick plants and often tended patches of plants to groom them to be straight. They also sang to the materials they gathered.

Baskets are still made by various Indian cultures, but they take a long time to make, said Maestas. The weavers must first find the materials, gather them at the right time, prune the materials while growing, and trim them to size before even beginning. It often takes a whole year to make a single basket.

California offers the most varied plant sources, Maestas said, but the habitats for plants have often been compromised. You may find a strip mall where once grew the desired vegetation for California baskets.

The baskets in the California section are some of the most beautiful. A dramatic snake and turtle design is found on a basket from the Southern California Luiseño peoples. Downright glitzy is a small Pomo basket with abalone shell and sea beads sewn on.

On one wall of the gallery, you will find Apache baby cradles, one worn with age, the others newer-looking and with decorative elements designed to appeal to tourists who stopped on cross-country train trips to collect the Indian wares. Phil Hitchcock, the Library Gallery's director, said that often, in cradles, a beaded turtle or lizard attached to the umbilical cord of the baby protected the soul of the infant from evil.

Among the most striking baskets are Hopi trays, with designs ranging from kachinas to eagles and geometric designs. Also stunning are a series of small, intricately woven baskets from the Southeast, among them a heart-shaped basket made by the Coushatta people and a lidded basket dating to the late 19th century from the Chitimacha people.

While the emphasis on the baskets in the main Library Gallery is on the artfulness of the wares, an auxiliary show in the entry gallery, organized by Sacramento State's anthropology department, provides context and historical information. These baskets, which now belong to the university, range from large storage baskets to tiny baskets as small as the tip of your pinkie finger. Taken together, the two shows offer wonderful aesthetic and educational opportunities, and many school groups have been attending the shows.

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