Basket 968

Copied Dona Look, Basket 968, 1996, white birch bark and waxed silk thread, 12 x 11 5⁄8 in. diam. (30.6 x 29.5 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Martha G. Ware and Steven R. Cole, 2011.47.42

Artwork Details

Title
Basket 968
Artist
Date
1996
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
12 x 11 5⁄8 in. diam. (30.6 x 29.5 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of Martha G. Ware and Steven R. Cole
Mediums
Mediums Description
white birch bark and waxed silk thread
Classifications
Object Number
2011.47.42
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/2011.47.42

Artwork Description

This basket is made from the bark of a single birch tree. The artist stripped the bark just before the tree was logged in northwestern Wisconsin, and then she meticulously hand stitched the panels together with silk thread. The basket bears the memory of the forest and signals our interdependence with nature. “I want people to see how beautiful these trees are,” the artist notes. “It’s important that we have these trees and indigenous forests for our descendants to see and appreciate.”

This Present Moment: Crafting a Better World, 2022

Related Books

Baskets_500.jpg
A Measure of the Earth
A Measure of the Earth provides an window into the traditional basketry revival of the past fifty years. Nicholas Bell’s essay details the longstanding use of traditional fibers, such as black ash, white oak, willow, and sweetgrass and the perseverance of a select few to harvest these elements—the land itself—for the enrichment of daily life. Drawing on conversations with basketmakers from across the country and reproducing many of their documentary photographs, Bell offers an intimate glimpse of their lifeways, motivations, and hopes. Lavish illustrations of every basket in the exhibition convey the humble, tactile beauty of these functional vessels.