Published work:

Baskets: Tradition and Beyond, Guild Publishing, 2000.
Beautiful Things: Original Art from the Artists of Guild.Com, 2000.
Baskets Now: USA, Arkansas Art Center, 2002.
Contemporary Wicker Basketry, Flo Hoppe, 2005.
500 Baskets,Lark Books, 2006
Celebrating Nature: Craft Traditions/Contemporary Expressions, Craft and Folk Museum, Los Angeles, Ca. 2004

 

Awards:
 

Lloyd Cotsen Contemporary American Basketry Collection, Racine Art Museum, Racine, Wisconsin, permanent collection.
Niche Magazine Award, 2001 and 2002.
Selected Shows; American Craft Council show, Los Angeles, 1999
Contemporary Baskets, del Mano, Los Angeles, 1999-2002
SOFA, Chicago, 2000 and 2001
Cherry Creek, Denver, 2001

 

My work is process and materials driven. These sculptures begin with a walk in the woods. I harvest bark from the Big Leaf Maple tree which grows in abundance in Oregon. Cutting down a trunk doesn't harm the tree because the trunks grow in clumps. The bark is peeled and dried for storage. As a length of bark is selected it's then cut to size and soaked to shape. The maple bark is pieced together entirely by hand forged copper pins and threaded with 4, 7 and 12 ply waxed linen. The weaving is a basketry technique, twining, which forms the upper portion of the piece. Sometimes the bark is dyed with black walnut stain and then rubbed with bees wax for protection.