Not content to be merely a storage vessel, the humble basket is a communicator, a holder of histories, a teller of tales, a virtual curator of the culture that created it.
Native Indians embellished theirs with symbols and stories. African Americans, like Mary Jackson in Mount Pleasant, SC, honor their heritage from western Africa. 19th century crews on floating lightships around Nantucket wiled away shipboard time making baskets of exquisite beauty; Shaker designs convey a spiritual link through construction simple and straight.
The late Ed Rossbach, considered the dean of American textiles, said “…through the persistence of tradition, … baskets have withstood all the destructive forces to which they are so subject: moisture, heat, fire, mold, insects, wear. Baskets have been replaced, over and over and over, unmodified, unimproved, unchanged. … (and) have shown a remarkable endurance.”
Doris Shippentower (Yakama/Umatilla/Navajo), Woman’s Beaded Hat, 1998, Collection of Dr. and Mrs. Robert B. Pamplin, Jr., Ed Muno photograph
Teri Greeves (Kiowa), Prayer Blanket, 2006, Courtesy Thirteen Moons Gallery, Santa Fe, NM, James Hart photograph
From loincloth to fine cloth The first garments were about function, followed by items of fashion, from flowing robes draping bodies, to silhouettes more in tune with a body’s form. Fashion has often taken on airs of costume, with cut, drape, and design often superseding fabric’s original purpose – to cover and protect.
Cloak, c. late 19th century, Courtesy of Shaker Museum and Library, Old Chatham and New Lebanon, New York
Nowhere has the sense of creativity and imagination been captured better than in art-to-wear. Born in the hippie, counter-culture days of the San Francisco Bay Area and Woodstock, what mattered was the expression of one’s inner self, explicitly and honestly. Each designer reflected the colorful flamboyance of the anti-couture, a counter to the clothes glamorized in Vogue.
As the hippie scene faded, Japanese arashi shibori, a more sophisticated kind of tie-dyeing, changed the face of wearable art forever. By crinkling, twisting, and knotting fabrics before dyeing (also known as resist-dyeing) shibori (‘storm’ in Japanese, because its patterns look so much like driving rain) expanded artistic possibilities.
One of its leading practitioners in America is Ana Lisa Hedstrom. Visiting Japan in 1983, she met that country’s last master dyer, Reicchi Suzuki, and collected samples from him. With Suzuki’s death six years later, Hedstrom had to reconstruct the process with only her samples. Experimenting, she started using silks instead of the traditional kimono cotton, and employed stitching techniques usually used in shaping and trimming garments. This was followed by other inventive techniques like laminating and airbrushing her materials.
Today art, design, and craft come together in a single garment – one that may take weeks or even months to complete. The best crackle with unbridled energy, excitement, and passion that make the observer stop – even gasp.
Mary Jackson takes us on a tour of the baskets in her studio—many of which are traditional designs that have been passed down for 300 years.
Learn more about Jackson here
Gustine Atlas is one of the many talented needlework artists continuing the quilting tradition at Mississippi Cultural Crossroads, producing articles of historic and social significance - Learn more about them HERE
We filmed American Indian Pat Courtney Gold for the MEMORY episode.
30 Artists who work with Fiber are represented in the Exhibition - see the Fiber works online HERE
Want to collaborate to make a quilt or mural? Download a lesson plan HERE
Many of America’s important Fiber artists are featured in the Book. Learn more about the Book and where to order HERE
Over 4 hours of video available online. To view a list of all video content click HERE
