Paint Box Colors

At the end of February I'll be exhibiting a new collection of baskets in Florida, at the Palm Beach Fine Craft Show. Often people don't see or consider what happens before artwork can begin. Colors need to be chosen, the reed needs to be cut, then it can be dyed. Often the colors inspire color combinations, then patterns and a form evolve. Sometimes a complete idea emerges, but often changes are made as the basket comes to life.

The Connecticut landscape is muted and the temperatures are often frigid. In the winter, weaving with color is my way to celebrate being an artist. (In the summer, I garden with plants and flowers.)

 

I've been mixing my own colors and saving the dye recipes since I began weaving 40 years ago. I use old recipes as they are or as starting points for new or subtle variations.

A collection of cut and dyed "hairy" pieces. 

Laying out a priliminary color scheme.

I create the "hairy" texture by placing one short piece of reed behind each upright spoke. As I work up the side of the basket, I plan where the colors will be. (Often I need to take out a few rows and replace colors when I see how the colors work with each other.)

By seeing how tall the basket will be, I'm better able to visualize the overall design.

The inner rim was woven to imply weight and to create a sense of mystery. The inside pattern appears where the "hairy" pieces were placed behind each spoke. Encaustic medium (a mixture of bees wax and demar resin) is applied to the finished basket creating a rich sheen and a protective coating.

As the basket is turned, the color combinations change and a painterly effect is created. The finished basket entitled "Paint Box," measures 10.25" x 14.5."

Baskets Inspired by Nature's Colors

I was invited by two groups on FB doing once-a-day-for-5-day-challenges. One challenge was "Nature Photos" the other was called "Creators Art" challenge. I decided to post a series of photos showing how many of my color combinations have been inspired by nature.

Maple leaf rose with leaves and fall colored reed (top left), dried rose buds from Sydney Eddison (lower left) and "Back Door," 16.25" x 12.75" 2015.

Connecticut sunset, oak leaf hydrangea leaves and a "hairy nest" 3" x 6."

Autumn leaves in my driveway and 2 "hairy nests," each 3" x 6."

"Ocean Inspired Seagrass," 15" x 12" 2013 and where the ocean meets an island off the coast of Norway.

Water lilies and Croton leaves at the Chicago Botanic Garden with a "hairy nest" 3" x 6."

A New Year for Baskets, Gardens + Small Miracles

Every year we can look back and learn from our experiences, big and little obstacles get in the way, but every day we get a little closer to getting it right. And, if we look for them, we can delight in the small miracles happening all around us. I wish all of you the best of years to come.

This past summer the garden exploded with new potential. I rejuvenated and reclaimed areas much in need of structure. This path had been so overgrown, I couldn't walk through it. Unseen, but off to the right, I cleared enough space to plant tomatoes, beans, cucumbers and white pumpkins!

This fall, my baskets bloomed with new, stronger colors and a few were larger than any I'd woven before. Here's what they looked like at the 2014 Philadelphia Museum of Art's Craft Show.

*There are more photographs, and information about the baskets on my website. And, if you want to see what I've been photographing outdoors and editing online, go to my page on Instagram.

"Winter into Spring" (greens)

The colors this spring have been intense. I don't know if it's because winter seemed to last forever or if it's because I'm just noticing more. Some days I'm nearly breathless with the beauty. Every day something new blooms along the trails or in my garden. It's been very hard for me to stay inside to weave.

I was supposed to be working on a commission. I had double-dyed a very, dark grey that helped me focus, since I really wanted to work with it. (Sometimes its the colors of newly dyed reed that inspire a basket.) The shape I started to weave was too shallow for the commission, so I changed ideas. Here's what I made. In retrospect, I see the linear, neutral colors of winter accented with the fresh, green leaves of spring (with a little orange for interest).

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After 30 odd years of making baskets and many more of gardening, the idea that I can live a life weaving together the colors I see around me, me makes me pause and think. My life isn't perfect, and I'll probably never have a lot of money, but I appreciate that I have eyes that can see, hands that can make things, and an imagination that keeps me curious and motivated.

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And ... I share this time with Kitt and Emma.

Inspired by a Montana Landscape

The idea for this basket started with looking at the colors in a friend's photo and a postcard of a dried, grass meadow in Yosemite. I was intrigued by the transitions from peach to indigo, and immersed myself in the colors and clouds. I played with the dyed reed as a painter would play with paint, and used more than 15 dye lots, a few of which were decades old.

As I wove, I started thinking about about the darkening sky, and stars. The stars would be woven into a dark, inner basket. Weaving a double-walled construction seemed to be the solution. People ask if I design each basket before I begin, here was a case where the whole concept changed mid basket. (A photo of the "stars" is on my website.)

As I wove a not-quite-big-dipper constellation into the inner basket, I remembered a sci-fi movie I saw where a woman woke up one morning and saw two suns in the sky and realized that she wasn't home anymore. While my hands are busy weaving, my head is free to indulge in making up stories. All I need is an idea to start with, then the curiosity, patience and perseverance to make it happen.

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The title for this basket is "An Alternate Starry Night." For more information and a photo looking into the basket, click here. The basket measures 10.5" x 10.5"

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Last year I wove a basket inspired by a painting by Leslie Baker.

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Here is the other basket inspired by the same landscape in different weather. The soft colors were the inspiration. (Having Kitt show up and be a part of the photo, was a bonus.)

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I'm off to Craft Boston later this week

After spending the last two months working on the double-wall for the Fuller Craft Museum, I wanted to weave smaller pieces where I could play with color. Here are three little "hairy pots" I've woven for Craft Boston, April 9-11 at the World Trade Center.

Fig Forms for the Fuller

While getting ready for the Westchester Craft Fair, I wove a basket whose inside interested me as much as the outside. The basket was woven using my "hairy" technique where short pieces of rattan are individually bent, then placed behind each spoke as I weave. In the above photo, each time a blue, orange, yellow, natural or chartreuse reed appears on the inside two short ends stick out on the outside. It's a time intensive process, but the blending of hairy pieces on the outside can be subtle and wonderful. Here though, I started thinking about what I could do with the surface of a basket if in effect, the basket were woven inside out, ie. if the hairy pieces pointed to the inside and the smooth surface you see above were on the outside. (For the commission, I have been concerned that an all-over hairy piece might not stand up as well as it should in the long run.)

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In addition to having a less vulnerable outer surface, having all the ends on the inside would give me the ability to weave complex blocks of color without the usual problem of having to secure all the ends. I could either design a basket where the viewer could look into the basket and see all the texture OR ... focus on the complex color changes on the outside. Years ago I wove an open bowl with all the hairy on the inside, but the focus was still on the texture, not on the smooth color changes that occurred on the outside. I'm now interested in the smooth surface, on the outside.

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The "figs" would be closed forms. People wouldn't be able to see inside. The bent hairy pieces would create a pattern on the outside. If these pieces were 3-4 feet, the added weight of all the inside hairy pieces would add to a sense of mass, which could help stablilize the two .... though, I might have to weave something heavy inside the basket ... these are all still just thoughts.

Touched By Design

The Touched by Design Salon show is finished. The weather was almost too good all weekend. Attendance was down from last year, but the quality of those who came made up for that! Philippe Rayer of Croton-on-Hudson, NY catered the event. (There was smoked trout and escargot and ...more!) I sold a few baskets, was asked to make a tiny basket, for a miniatures collection and, I was surrounded by French, Scottish, Indian, Swiss, and Slovenian accents. It was much more fun than doing a craft fair with a hundred other artists. For more information on the four other artists click on this link.

A Field of Baskets, or Baskets as a Garden ...

I'm working on ideas for the Fuller Craft Museum commission. The ideas are coming faster than I can write so I'm going off line to concentrate. I'll be back later today - to tell about the idea on the left and the ones still in my head, but in the meantime maybe this will entice you to return. (The basket on the right shows what the spokes left unwoven looks like, rising up from the top edge of the basket.) The idea on the left may or may not be woven with the "hairy" technique ... Please click here, to read what I posted.

A Free-Standing, Stacked Basket

While talking to a friend about the Fuller Craft Museum Commision, I started doodling. The idea of weaving individual baskets which would be stacked on top of eachother - like stringing beads - came to me. If you can imagine COMPLETELY changing the scale, from beads or desktop-baskets to something approaching people size, the statement becomes more sculptural and less "basket-like." There are technical issues which will need resolving once it gets past a certain size. Whether I make this full size or not, I look forward to weaving a mock-up.

Basket Tribute to Leslie Baker

This basket (2 sides of the same piece are shown here) was inspired by Leslie Baker's painting "Blue Shed." She has an opening at the Shaw Cramer Gallery in Martha's Vineyard on July 24th. This basket and a few others will be on display out there as well.

Fuller Craft Museum Update

In April, I wrote about receiving a purchase award from the Fuller Craft Museum, in Brockton, MA. I've started working on designs for them, and have posted a "note" about it. Click here to read about an idea I'm very excited about.

If you're interested in my career before baskets ...

You can go read an article I wrote: http://hubpages.com/hub/Contemporary-Basketry I will be adding pages to this in the future by adding articles and images by other contemporary basketmakers, such as Jan Hopkins and Kate Anderson.

Smithsonian Craft Show

I will be attending a juried craft fair sponsored by the Smithsonian Women's Committee, in Washington, DC. The preview night gala is April 22nd, then the show opens to the public on Thursday, April 23rd. (This is the mailer they are sending out to invite patrons to the Preview Night Benefit. That's my basket above!) for more information and hours, please visit their website.

New round and hairy basket - "Color/Joy"

I'm preparing for a juried craft show next weekend --

http://wwwcraftboston.org

I'll be bringing this new basket. It's 8" x 9.5" and is woven using hundreds of short pieces of dyed rattan reed, which are inserted as I weave the structure.