Leaf Basket

Pat Hickman, Lillian Elliott, Leaf Basket, 1984, coconut palm sheath, hog casings, acrylic paint, and colored pencil, 12 x 11 x 7 ³⁄₄ in. (30.5 x 27.9 x 19.7 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Theodore Cohen in memory of his mother and her sisters: Rose Melmon Cohen, Blanche Melmon, Mary Melmon Greenberg and Fanny Melmon Liberman, 1998.122.11, © 1986, Patricia L. Hickman

Artwork Details

Title: Leaf Basket
Artists: Pat Hickman
Lillian Elliott
Date: 1984
Location: Not on view
Dimensions: 12 x 11 x 7 ³⁄₄ in. (30.5 x 27.9 x 19.7 cm)
Copyright: © 1986, Patricia L. Hickman
Credit Line: Gift of Theodore Cohen in memory of his mother and her sisters: Rose Melmon Cohen, Blanche Melmon, Mary Melmon Greenberg and Fanny Melmon Liberman
Mediums: leaves
graphite
acrylic
Mediums Description: coconut palm sheath, hog casings, acrylic paint, and colored pencil
Classifications: Decorative Arts
Object Number: 1998.122.11
Linked Open Data: https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1998.122.11

Artwork Description

Lillian Elliott and longtime collaborator Pat Hickman created Leaf Basket to express their individual artistic interests. Hickman especially likes the contrasts of rigid and pliable forms, and her baskets often transform soft, organic materials into surfaces that appear unyielding. Here, the artists colored the coconut palm sheath with acrylic paint and colored pencil so that it looks stiff, as if cast in metal. The curved shapes evoke fossilized plants reaching around and away from the central form, conjuring the motionless trees of a petrified forest.