collections

"I like to work with items that society deems 'useless'. I take these pieces of ephemera and redefine them as sculpture. Each material I use has a history attached. This history speaks to the viewer on many different levels." Elizabeth Lundberg Morisette

elizabeth lundberg morisette purchases people's collections and spins them into art. she spent a year acquiring items on ebay that she later used to explore the human need to collect and what our collections say about us. what did she make? well, her own collection of vessels of course.

morisette brings new meaning to the old saying "one (wo)man's trash is another (wo)man's treasure." safety pins, keys, paper clips, hairpins, plastic curlers, swizzle sticks, twist ties. it's all fair game for this innovative artist.

though crafted from a variety of materials, many of the vessels maintain an organic feel. the basket pictured here? old zippers. the work is quirky, and offers plenty of room for reflection and observation. quirky i tell you - just like us.

landscape reports

"I make vessels because I am fascinated with form and structure. I look for inspiration in the natural world, and then allow technique to mesh with these visual ideas to create something new. I enjoy all aspects of this process: the appreciation of the world around me that suggests ideas and the search for a method of construction that allows my ideas to take shape." Mary Merkel-Hess

influenced by the iowa landscapes of her childhood, basket artist mary merkel-hess uses paper and reed to recreate the swaying grasses that dominate the midwestern horizon. merkel-hess developed a technique to make the unusual basket sculptures that combines paper mache and three dimensional collage. she uses glue to apply small pieces of paper to a mold, creating a form that she then further manipulates, bringing her memories to life.

many thanks to libby mills for this link.

financial responsibility

"True inspiration and creativity comes more readily when you learn to enjoy the journey through your art, no matter what direction it might take you. Learn to follow your artistic voice as well as guide your Art to its completion." Mary Hettmansperger

mary hettmansperger's basket makes me want to cut my credit cards up and use them to make art. fantastic idea. everybody should do it. a recent description of her book 'fabulous woven jewelry' states that she reveals the secrets of traditional basketry techniques. think she might reveal a secret or two about losing our credit cards?

silver linings

“I weave contemporary vessels in contemporary times using materials gathered from both ancient grounds and castoff domestics” Shannon Weber

embracing life - the good, the bad and the ugly - has paid off for self-taught basket artist shannon weber. she began weaving baskets as a diversion when her children were still babies. years later, the fishing lodge that she and her husband owned flooded when a pipe burst, bringing more than just tragedy to her door. the insurance adjuster quickly fell in love with her lively baskets and he happened to have connections to a highly reputable crafts market. when he invited her to show her work, she recognized the opportunity and her career was launched. a few years ago weber was in a debilitating auto accident. as she grappled with another difficult life experience she shifted priorities and direction, spending some time reorganizing her life and art and coming back strong once again.

the common denominator in moving this talented weaver's career ahead might be dark clouds, but don't discount weber's soul-shifting ability to laugh out loud and jump into the fray. after all, 'it started with a giggle.'

the link to this living-life-out-loud-artist comes from toby goldsmith.

collaboration, cohabitation, cooperation

"An early addition to my wood pieces was the incorporation of my wife, Kaaren Wiken's finely detailed embroideries. Her colorful works of fiber art brings another level of meaning to my works, a collaborative effort that has taken us in directions we never would have imagined separately." Tom Rauschke

husband and wife team tom rauschke and kaaren wiken have been collaborating for more than 30 years. he turns and hand carves wood, inlaying kaaren's detailed embroidery into the intricate vessels. sky bowl, pictured above, took the pair several years to complete. kaaren's continuous embroidered landscape scene, inlaid all the way around the black walnut bowl, depicts one entire day from sunrise to sunset. this elaborate and subtly colored embellishment is truly a labor of love. collaboration, cohabitation and cooperation at its finest.

home ec

"I have always loved the lustrous, seductive qualities of silk, and have used varying weights and weave structures to create textured effects." Dorothy Filshie

as a home economics teacher, food and fabric influenced dorothy filshie's daily routine for decades. now retired, she still dreams about the dupioni silk and tulle used to sew the beautiful gowns that swish softly around the dance floor. but these days filshie isn't thinking about teaching students to sew. instead, she is imagining the lush fabric transformed into the exquisite sculptural jugs she sews by hand. i can see that retirement agrees with her. yes.

capturing light

"The inspiration for the LightVessels first came to Darryl many years ago on a sun washed day at the trout stream. He was intrigued by the play of light on his fishing line and how it glistened and sparkled on the water. Since fishing and basketmaking are closely woven parts of his life, he wanted to put that special mood into a basket." Karen Arawjo

husband and wife team darryl and karen arawjo weave clear or colored monofilament over hand split white oak and hickory to create their award-winning light vessels. each translucent basket captures the light and shines delicate, ethereal rays into the room creating a calm, soothing mood. a welcome break during this season of hustle and bustle.

thanks to alison lee for the link

trapuncro

"I work primarily in crochet, but it's not what most people expect to see. I invented my own technique for working with this medium by crocheting on top of trapunto quilting." Irene C. Reed

teapot? handbag? teapot? handbag? ok, i get it now: irene c. reed's richly detailed forms are teapot shaped handbags. she quilts the bags and uses cotton and metallic threads in her trapunto details. for those who aren't 'in the know', trapunto is a quilting technique that produces a raised surface on the quilt. reed's innovative adaptation is simply brilliant. my name for it? trapuncro.

networking

"The silk vessels I create are both transparent and translucent which hold mysteries. They have been transforming into a new sculptural form, one more akin to the human body, another container with its own mysteries." Kiyomi Iwata

kiyomi iwata sculpts luxurious, translucent silk containers that appear wispy and delicate, but as we know looks are often deceiving. reinforcing the silk with a cobweb-like labyrnth of wire threads, the weightless containers are strong and resilient, not unlike the artist herself. many of the stitched seams and openings are intentionally torn, adding to the mysterious nature of these secret-keepers...i wonder what long-held secrets have escaped?

many thanks to alison lee of craftcast for the link to kiyomi's work.

busted

“I was always interested in working with natural materials. I was raised on a farm in Idaho, so I guess you could say I grew up surrounded by future possibilities. My focus on working with alternative materials was to process them so that I could retain the natural beauty and texture of the material.” Jan Hopkins

jan hopkins makes art. she is also raising a family of four. and she runs her husband’s business. it makes me tired just thinking about the logistics. this master multitasker has an eye for unusual natural materials, transforming discarded citrus peels, sturgeon skins and lotus seed pod tops into sculptural baskets that often take on the human form. an innovative approach to basket making that draws on well developed traditional basketry skills. notice the emphasis i put on the words innovative and multitasker - it is well deserved.

in her shoes

"The materials and techniques I use are important to me because they help me tell stories. In artwork, we see reflections of ourselves, refracted by our own histories and the perspective of one point in time. What I really want people to see is how connected we all are, how the threads of our lives intertwine." Donna Kallner

fiber artist, teacher, writer, storyteller. donna kallner weaves her life as gracefully as she weaves the fiber of her baskets. she created 'grass slipper' after reading japanese basket maker hisako sekijima's reflections on rice straw slippers. sekijima wrote, "cultures that depend or have depended on perishable materials like grass, rice straw or wood instead of longer-lasting materials are likely to develop different values, especially those concerning labor and possessions." there is a lesson there for all of us...