The Art of Play

November 2009 | BY Lynda McDaniel | Issue 70, Winter 2009-2010 | NO COMMENTS

: KeKe Cribbs’ relationship with Pilchuck Glass School in Stanwood, Wash., began more than 25 years ago. Cribbs recently taught a workshop there. Credit: Russell Johnson / The Pilchuck Glass School

The sunny classroom buzzes with activity. Colorful felt pieces litter the table as scissors, needles and thread are passed around. The laughter grows louder. No doubt about it—everyone is having fun.

This isn’t a 5th-grade art class or a project at an after-school center; these enthusiastic participants are all grown men and women—members of the Glass Alliance of Los Angeles, a group more accustomed to collecting than making art. They’ve come to play for the day with glass artist KeKe Cribbs, who developed these Daemon Zoo workshops after a tour sponsored by the Pilchuck Glass School visited her studio on Whidbey Island near Seattle.

We all are wired to make things.”

- KeKe Cribbs

“I had several conversations with collectors about their desire to make artwork, not only collect it. But their deep-seated belief was that this was not in the cards for them,” she says. “I enjoy offering these workshops to collectors because I deeply believe that as human beings with opposable thumbs, we all are wired to make things.” Cribbs guides participants through the process of needle-felting their own personal entities, which she calls Daemons. And in the process, “everyone discovers the joy of creating.”

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Moving Outside the Lines

November 2009 | BY Marilyn Millstone | Issue 70, Winter 2009-2010 | NO COMMENTS

: A detailed look at “Twilight Cicada” by Boulder, Colo., basket maker Jill Powers.
Credit: Russell McDougal

From the sweetgrass Carolina low country to the pine forests of the Pacific Northwest, generations of American basket makers have created objects that are not only functional but also beautiful. In recent decades, more adventurous artists have blurred the boundaries of basketry, using nontraditional materials and innovative techniques to fashion pieces of all shapes, sizes and colors. Functionality, in many cases, has vanished; contemporary baskets are often works designed solely to engage the senses.

So just how are baskets defined nowadays? There are as many answers as there are artists. “It’s a vessel that can breathe, that’s filled with space,” says Michael Davis, a North Carolina artist whose basketry is collected by national institutions including the Smithsonian’s Renwick Gallery. Santa Fe, N.M., gallery owner Jane Sauer, herself a widely collected fiber artist, considers it “a form that’s moving toward the sculptural.” Sara Lieberman, a collector in Scottsdale, Ariz., quotes New York artist John McQueen, who called one of his baskets “a container not for things, but for ideas.”

It’s a vessel that can breathe, that’s filled with space

What unifies the field, perhaps, is the passion artists bring to the time-consuming process of gathering and preparing materials, then shaping them into objects of personal expression, using techniques ranging from traditional weaving and coiling to knotting, knitting, embroidering and stitching.

For more of “Moving Outside the Lines,” pick up the Winter 2009/2010 issue of AmericanStyle today! Subscribe now and never miss an article!

Jiro Yonezawa

November 2009 | BY Sara Baker | Issue 70, Winter 2009-2010 | NO COMMENTS

Portland, Ore., artist Jiro Yonezawa combines traditional weaving techniques from his native Japan to create his inventive baskets. Symmetrical, tightly woven forms are combined with the looser, irregular weaves found in Japanese fishing baskets in Yonezawa’s pieces, ranging from 8 inches to 7 feet high. “Missionary” combines bamboo, cane, cedar root, wood and urushi lacquer. Yonezawa’s work, retailing from $1,800-$18,000, is available at Cervini Haas Fine Art in Scottsdale, Ariz., and Traver Gallery in Seattle and Tacoma, Wash.

Don Weeke

November 2009 | BY Sara Baker | Issue 70, Winter 2009-2010 | NO COMMENTS

Form comes first for Don Weeke; texture is a close second. Gourds often provide the natural forms for his baskets, while coiling, weaving and knotless netting help him achieve the desired textures. And he isn’t afraid to employ an “invented” technique if the project demands it. “Banded Arch” is made of painted gourd and palm frond. The Julian, Calif., artist, whose work retails for $100-$3.000, is represented by del Mano Gallery in Los Angeles.

Polly Adams Sutton, Fiber Artist

November 2009 | BY Sara Baker | Issue 70, Winter 2009-2010 | NO COMMENTS

Seattle artist Polly Adams Sutton uses wire to twine together the bark of local red and yellow cedar bark in her “Dono” basket. “I have no preconceived form that I aim for, just the sense of where the bark came from,” she says. Sutton’s work, which ranges in price from $400-$6,400, is available at Jane Sauer Gallery in Santa Fe, N.M., and is shown each year at the International Exposition of Sculpture Objects & Functional Art (SOFA) in Chicago.

Joh Ricci

November 2009 | BY Sara Baker | Issue 70, Winter 2009-2010 | NO COMMENTS

Joh Ricci’s process of knotting hand-dyed nylon may be tedious, but the colorful results stretch the limits of basketry. The New Oxford, Pa., artist fell in love with fiber while taking an elective weaving class in college. She also combines netting, crocheting and bead weaving into her work, which ranges in price from $216-$5,400. “Earth Day,” standing just 6 inches high, is made of knotted nylon, rayon and cotton. Ricci is represented at Jane Sauer Gallery in Santa Fe., N.M., and Snyderman—Works Galleries in Philadelphia.

Jill Powers

November 2009 | BY Sara Baker | Issue 70, Winter 2009-2010 | NO COMMENTS

“The experience of creating with bark fiber connects me with the ancient people who first discovered its special qualities,” says Boulder, Colo., artist Jill Powers. “I love to work outdoors as they did, using traditional methods, then experimenting in the studio with contemporary interpretations.” Powers combines bark fiber with yucca seeds and waxed linen in “Cicada Songs.” Her work, ranging in price from $900-$3,700, can be seen at del Mano Gallery in Los Angeles and Jane Sauer Gallery in Santa Fe, N.M.

Debora Muhl

November 2009 | BY Sara Baker | Issue 70, Winter 2009-2010 | NO COMMENTS

Maine sweetgrass adds a vanilla-like aroma to Debora Muhl’s one-of-a-kind coiled baskets. The self-taught Spinnerstown, Pa., artist discovered the material after years of experimentation, which began when she started making baskets in 1983. “Princess #1289″ combines sweetgrass with gourd, nylon ribbon and branches. Muhl’s work ranges in price from $350-$10,000, and is available at del Mano Gallery in Los Angeles and Snyderman-Works Galleries in Philadelphia.

Jennifer Falck Linssen

November 2009 | BY Sara Baker | Issue 70, Winter 2009-2010 | NO COMMENTS

Jennifer Falck Linssen combines the Japanese paper-cutting technique katagami with metalsmithing and basketry techniques to create her contemporary baskets. For “Lapping Waves,” the Boulder, Colo., artist handcarved archival cotton paper, which she joined with aluminum and waxed linen. Linssen’s work, ranging in price from $350-$4,000, is available at browngrotta arts in Wilton, Conn., and Mobilia Gallery in Cambridge, Mass.

Stephen Johnson

November 2009 | BY Sara Baker | Issue 70, Winter 2009-2010 | NO COMMENTS

A relative newcomer to the world of basket making, Stephen Johnson was first exposed to the medium at a fiber exhibition at Arizona State University in 1991. Johnson’s unorthodox baskets are made up of what he refers to as “bush materials”—raffle tickets, paint samples, staples—whatever he has on hand. His recent “Blue Stopper” is made of painted paper, reed and mixed media. The Mesa, Ariz., artist’s work retails for $1,000-$1,400, and can be found at Cervini Haas Fine Art in Scottsdale, Ariz., and del Mano Gallery in Los Angeles.

Charissa Brock

November 2009 | BY Sara Baker | Issue 70, Winter 2009-2010 | NO COMMENTS

Charissa Brock’s material of choice is bamboo, which she gathers from backyards and farms around her studio in Portland, Ore., then dries for six months and prepares with heat to harden it. In “Avis Unda,” she creates added texture with fused glass petals. Her work ranges in price from $350-$8,000 and is available at Cervini Haas Fine Art in Scottsdale, Ariz., and Snyderman —Works Galleries in Philadelphia.