“In making ‘baskets’ I use materials that draw attention to the place contained and raise the question of accessibility and function.”
The word “basket” can be interpreted in many forms offering a variety of functions. When I make a basket I use materials that specifically draw attention to the place contained and raise questions of accessibility and purpose. Some remain open and inviting while others hold themselves closed off guarding their spaces inside with only a tiny opening for access to their meanings.
Shifu Kayak
One of a series of small woven boats made from spun shifu threads and coated with pigments gathered locally near my studio in North Carolina. Some of the kozo papers were written on before being woven or rolled into a ball for the boat to carry. They are about the burden of our secret thoughts and words.
Skins Basket
One of two vessel forms using the “hides” I made of layering fused fabrics that had been sanded and waxed before being cut into the necessary patches to shape the forms. Then they were stitched and held in place using willow stems.
This one is in the collection of the Southern Highlands Craft Guild.
Memory Bag #2
This basket was an award winning entry to Beyond Basketry, an international basket exhibit held at the Dairy Barn Art Center in Athens, Ohio .
Like the others in the series it represents how easily our memories fade and then something happens, a smell, a feeling, a sound, something that brings it all back. And then it is gone again.
The paper shifu threads twine around the top of gauzy forms that represent how easily thoughts flow in and out and each one has a tenuous thread suspending a tiny brass bell.
There are three Memory Bags, one is in a private collection and the other two remain here until I can part with them.
