To weave baskets is to continue a practice that began hundreds of years ago.  This ancient art is kept alive and passed on by many warm, funny, interesting people.  Over the past twenty years, it has been my good fortune to study with several of them.  Basket weaving continues to be interesting, challenging and new for me because of the incredible variety of construction techniques and materials involved.

 I have created a variety of woven vessels, but the ones that seem to come naturally to me are Appalachian ribbed-style baskets.  Growing up in West Virginia in a family with Scottish roots, I had no idea that this style of basketry was part of my cultural heritage.  This discovery many years later put a new light on my weaving variations of those traditional shapes.

By incorporating antlers of unique size, shape, texture and color, I can be sure that each finished piece will be different.  Part of creating such a woven sculpture involves "listening" to each antler or gourd.  Their Unique qualities determine the final form each basket will take. Often the design process is as time-consuming as the actual construction and weaving.  The materials used in my work include smoked or stained rattan, date palm stems, sea grass, honeysuckle, polished rocks, feathers, beads, shells, pine needles, and leather.

Creating these pieces was a joy for me.  I hope they will be appreciated by others who are drawn, as I am, to the wonders of nature and the historical significance of basketry as an art form.