Basket 968

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: Dona Look
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: silk
birch
Mediums Description: white birch bark and waxed silk thread
Classifications: Decorative Arts
Fiber
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

Works by this artist (2 items)

Rouen Cathedral

Artist

David Roberts

Dateca. 1796-1826

oil on wood

King’s College Chapel – Cambridge

Artist

David Roberts

Date1837

oil on canvas

Related Books

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.