2008 Craft Show Artists

"Women Forms" is a series of woven vessels that speak of the cultures and the women I have encountered who have had an impact on my life. The forms reflect connections and relationships, the changing roles of women, shared stories, and ways in which women live and learn. Some of the women stand alone, either in strength or in sorrow. Others rejoice in the company of other women - daughters, sisters, mothers, friends. Each one represents a visual collection of passions, grief, joys and sorrows. The forms contain and are shaped by layers of experience. My work and travel in Africa, particularly in Ghana, continue to be strong influences. The fabrics, the colors, the cultures, the earth, and the people I meet inform the vessels I create. Woven with painted cotton paper and wire, incorporating fabrics, encaustic wax, sand, earth, acrylic mediums, and beads.

Coiled & twined baskets, and hand-built plant fiber vessels fabricated from a variety of natural and dyed plant fibers, including date palm, Torrey Pine needles, Colter Pine Cone scales, Jacaranda seed pods, Reed, Raffia, Dracaena Draco leaf (The Dragon Tree) Lecheguilla fiber (Spanish Dagger Agave), stained, collaged and woven gourd work,

My baskets are woven from the inner bark of black willow which I harvest and process from trees growing along the banks of the Kentucky River. The bark is a strong and durable fiber that possesses a rich natural color and organic character. I use a basic spoke and weaver basket construction method and employ the varied weaving techniques of plain and diagonal and twill plaiting, plain and wrapped and twill twining, and apply two and three-ply spun bark cordage for most of my handles. Subtle patterns are produced by twill twining within a plain twined field. The bark's natural color is enhanced with a light application of mineral oil.

Handcoiled seagrasses collected along the South Carolina coast.

Baskets woven of artist-dyed rattan reed using commercial, waterfast dyes. The techniques used are multi-element twining to achieve spiral and vertical patterns, and the artist's own "hairy" technique, where hundreds of short pieces of reed are woven into the walls of the baskets. Double-wall constructions are woven as two separate baskets, then they are joined together at the outer rim. All designs are original and all work is done by the artist.

I create sculptural basketry using the traditional technique of coiling with sweet grass (hierochloe odorata) as the core material. The stitches are waxed Irish linen or artificial sinew. Some of the work begins on a segment of prepared gourd and most recently the work is purely sweet grass and various ribbons. I design in the process of the work and each piece is a surprise in the end. It has been my intent to create a unique style in basketry, using this unique and fragrant sweet grass.

As an avid observer of nature and incessant collector of diverse material - from acorns to zippers - I continually gather interesting items to use on my handwoven black ash baskets. In this new series, each one-of-a-kind piece is woven tightly and precisely, with added elements thoughtfully chosen to display order and harmony. For one, I may use rows of hooks and eyes to imply that the basket's construction is carefully held together, while on another, a zipper adds an illusion of function. For the finishing touch, spiraled, thread-wrapped rows define the basket's top. On some baskets I've left the last few rows twisting out into space, reaching, as a tendril, for a safehold. My new sculptural work suggests a narrative; a view of human nature expressed through a plaited form. The story is the same - we have a tentative hold on life, wanting to appear all together but always aware there's a thread ready to unravel.

I create forms that bring mystery to the visual and tactile sense. Front, interior and back surfaces interact, drawing the eye into a drama of shifting curves and textures. Ive created language with the armature and the use of wire. I build volume, space, texture and color with these threads of wire. Though the work may look spontaneous it is carefully calculated to create its form, movement and rhythm. My fantasy is to be inside the work...encouraging visual and emotional exporation.

We make hand-split white oak baskets. The wood is split, carved, bent, pegged, whittled, and woven into the finished form. Each is one-of-a-kind, woven free-hand without the use of molds. The basket's design depends on the working properties of each individual tree. The strength and flexibility of this natural material, lends itself to crafting a wide variety of dynamic shapes with flowing lines created by the wrapping, weaving, and technical ribbing methods. The natural colors of the wood are used to accent design features - darker elements are made from heartwood of the tree while the lighter elements are split from the sapwood. All elements of our baskets are created directly from the tree with hand tools, in the tradition of the central and southern Appalachian Mountain region.