This work is related to one of my other submissions, and how
that came about is an interesting story. in 2023 I joined Preserving a
Picturesque America whose goal is “Preserving natural and historic places
through the power of the arts” and that summer we visited three sisters at
their basket stand on Hwy 17 in Mt. Pleasant, SC. It was a lovely visit that
inspired several paintings and the artists felt like celebrities with painters watching their every move. The visit marked the beginning of a year scouting the
Lowcountry culminated with the show Preserving a Picturesque America;
Preservation Through Art at City Gallery in Charleston, SC.
While
attending a event at my neighbor’s house I mentioned the three sisters and
their baskets along the corridor of basket sewers. Those who have been around the Lowcountry for a while tend to
know who is who, so of course my neighbor knew the sisters. She showed me a
fraction of her own basket collection and the manuscript for her book
“A Collection of Lowcountry Baskets – A Living Tradition: Gullah Baskets
Then and Now. And on page 133 is a black and white photo taken by Laura
Crosby’s father, Eugene B. Sloan in 1964 of a young basket maker along the same
road in Mt. Pleasant where the sisters still have their stand. This young
artist looks very pleased posing with a large missionary bag, and her image was
the reference for my collage. The basket images were patched together color
copies of my own baskets. The green hue whish is present in new sweetgrass baskets,
mellows to tan as it ages.
