September 2014 Issue - Georgia Basketry Association

GBA Newsletter
Letter from the President
O C T O BE R , 2 0 1 4
Tracey Reidy:
A note of gratitude
I took my first basket class in 1985 from long time
GBA member Dot Glover and, if I remember correctly, sometime later when the GBA was formed
Dot taught at the very first GBA convention. For
my first class, we met at a Gwinnett County high
school in the evening and little did I know that
from that class forward I would be blessed beyond belief with what I call my basket family. Dot
was recently at my house, yes we still weave together, when I got the very sad news that my
beloved Jack Russell Terrier Angel was not going
to live forever as we had so wished and Dot
hugged and cried with me along with some of my other Guild sisters. My basket family has been with me through the good times and the bad and I know
that I could pick up the phone if I needed something and a basket sister (or
brother-I’m not leaving you out Billy, Eric, Royce and our other male members!)
would be there in a minute. Some of the best times that I have had in my life
have been with many of you. Basket weaving didn’t just bring a hobby, it
brought me a family. And for that I will be forever grateful.
So, Baskets to Love is not just a basket weaving convention, it’s a family reunion! If you’ve never been to a GBA convention or it’s been awhile, come join
the family. When you look back on it someday, you will remember it as a great
time that you had in your life. You won’t regret it, I promise!
Love to all my basket sisters and brothers. You mean the world to me!
I N S I D E T HI S IS S UE :
President’s Letter
1
Membership
1
Member Contribution
Member Contribution
2
4
Guild Meetings
7
Guild News
8
Tracey
Membership Dues
GBA membership dues must be paid by July 1, 2014 in order to be eligible for
“First Day” status for convention. If you have not already paid your dues,
please remit $15 to GBA and send to:
GBA c/o Sybil Sweat
1785 Azalea Springs Trail
Roswell, GA 30075
Upcoming Events
11
PAGE 2
Appreciating Black Ash Basketry by Kathleen Fosha
By now you should have heard the emerald ash borer is decimating the ash trees that supplies
materials for black ash basket makers. Can anyone predict when the existing supply of black ash trees will
cease to be available? This generation? Next generation? Not really. But it is such an immense joy to
weave with this fine material that I selected Eric Taylor’s Traditional to Contemporary Basket class at
John C Campbell Folk School. Having won the complimentary tuition raffle at the 2014 GBA Basket
Convention, I emailed Eric my choices for three baskets ahead of time and patiently waited for August
24rd to arrive.
If you’ve woven a black ash basket, and especially Eric’s, you know that the more time you put
into preparation (beveling staves, sanding staves, weavers, bases, rims, and handles) the better your basket
will become. Sunday evening started with preparation of materials. Monday morning started with preparation of material. Monday afternoon, I started weaving the Cottage Mail Carrier. Ahhhh. Zen-like peace
filled my soul.
Throughout our week, Eric interrupted our preparation and weaving time to demonstrate how he
processes his raw material. He set up his ash splitting station (taking one year ash growth splints and splitting them to satin/rough splints.) We each took a turn and learned it wasn’t as easy as it looked. On another day, Eric demonstrated how he pulls satin/sanded splint into weavers. If we hadn’t already begun
to appreciate the labor that went behind putting together our kits, we all started to be in awe. Eric offered
us the opportunity to prepare all our weavers for our baskets this week. We kindly declined, letting Eric
supply the hand-pulled, sanded weavers.
Eric splitting ash to satin.
Eric pulling sanded splint into weavers.
P AGE 3
G B A N EW SL ET T ER
After steaming rim stock for four—five hours, Eric demonstrated how he takes the
cherry rim stock, secures it to an “outer” rim mold and “inner” rim mold to create
the rim material. Life is great when the rim stock literally molds itself to the mold.
Sometimes, unfortunately, Eric gets bad rim stock and when he tries to form the
cherry rim to the mold, it cracks. That happened in the demo, a few times, when
creating Pencil basket rims. Our appreciation for all the elements in our basket kit
continued to rise.
There were six weavers in our group; three seasoned weavers (all GBA members!) and three
new to mold/ash weavers. The dynamics of the group were wonderful. We laughed, shared stories,
laughed, shared tips, laughed, caught up with each others’ lives, laughed, prepared material and wove for
five days. Admittedly, while the Folk School does offer evening entertainment and demonstrations,
nothing compares to preparing basket materials after dinner. Seriously. Eric was kind (he’s only
scheduled to work 9 am—4:30 pm) to let a couple of us in the weaving studio after dinner to continue to
bevel and sand and seal our work so that we would be that much closer to weaving the next day. One of
the new weavers (Christine, from Hawaii) thought we were a bit loony to do that, until she discovered
that if she had prepared material, she could create two, three and even four baskets in the short five days
together! (She’s found her gift.) To a basket weaver, 12 hours doing something that fuels your soul is
pure joy.
Cottage Mail
At the end of the five days, I managed to create four heirloom baskets which I will cherish, not only for the finished product, but also because of the treasured time spent at the Folk
School; the memories created and stories shared will stay with me
long after the ever-so-slight pain in the weaving fingers decline.
Cottage Dresser Tote
Mountain Tote
I’m delighted to say two of the new weavers have joined GBA,
welcome Kim and Christine! Can’t wait to weave with you at
one of our GBA conventions. I’ve decided this retreat to the
John C Campbell Folk School needs to be an annual event.
Who wants to join me next year?
Cottage Bureau with Twists
PAGE 4
Kathie Smith’s Vacation Travels
This has been an interesting year of mini trips. In August I had the pleasure of traveling to western Massachusetts. What
an amazing place. Beautiful, peaceful and full of culture and interesting stories.
I had the pleasure of visiting Hancock Shaker Village on the outskirts of Pittsfield, Mass. For some strange reason my
husband was amazed that all my photos were of baskets. Go figure : ) Of course I had to pick up a shaker box. I would
love to go back and take a class to make one!
http://hancockshakervillage.org/
So I have to share. There was the most amazing variety of functional baskets…interesting weaves and rims. Photos
include a large laundry style basket, a cute little cathead with an interesting rim, a rather nice size lidded basket, shelves
full of baskets and a wheel barrel with a couple winnowing baskets.
G B A N EW SL ET T ER
PAGE 5
September found me in Kentucky at the Berea Visitor’s center south of Lexington to check out the works of over 700
artisans. There were many interesting items there from books to art to metal works to fabrics and yarn to bourbon
chocolate covered twinkies to… of course baskets.
Of the many baskets, I have a few photos to share. There was an interesting egg basket using three round hoops, and a
couple more using vines and interesting twigs for handles.
Both of these trips were a lot of fun and seeing all the great baskets has whetted my appetite for Baskets to Love.
Can’t wait!
PAGE 6
GBA Convention “BASKETS TO LOVE”
February 6-8, 2015
Six reasons to register:
#1 Registration postmarked by 9/30 has it’s privileges and almost guarantees
your #1 preference first day and beyond.
http://georgiabasketry.com/GBA2015Convention.htm
#2 Complimentary 2015 GBA dues if you bring a newbie. Wonderful opportunities for both beginners and experienced weavers.
#3 Resort like accommodations so you can bring along a non-weaver tag-a-long
and not feel guilty.
#4 Fabulous selection of basket styles.
#5 New teachers along with noted Masters.
#6 Great place, great time and create a family heirloom.

First 50 hotel reservations will be put in a raffle for a complimentary night that can be used during the Basket
to Love Convention!
Hilton Hotel and Conference Center, Marietta GA 888-685-2500
Take a special trip to a Spectacular place!
October 4 & 5, 2014
G B A N EW SL ET T ER
PAGE 7
Guild Meetings
Greater Atlanta Basket Guild (Marietta) - (Annette Roose, Guild Rep)
Meets: 3rd Saturday and 3rd Wednesday 11 am Main Cobb Co. Library
Roswell Street, Marietta, GA
Gwinnett Basket Weaver’s Guild (Gwinnett) - (Ann Massey, Guild Rep)
Meets: 2nd Saturday 10am
Berkmar High School in Lawrenceville
Basket Weaver's Guild of GA (Roswell) - (Kathleen Fosha, Guild Rep)
Meets: 2nd Thursday 10am-12pm
Bulloch Hall in Roswell
River Country Basket Guild (Augusta) - (Suzanne Simoneau, Guild Rep)
Meets: every Tuesday 7-9pm in Augusta
Kolomoki Weavers (Arlington) - (Joyce Causey, Guild Rep)
Meets: 2nd Tuesday
100 Park Ave., Arlington, GA
Shooting Creek Basket Guild (Shooting Creek, NC) - (Ann Massey, Guild Rep)
Meets: 2nd Wednesday 9:45am
Shooting Creek Volunteer Fire Department Community Building
Guild News
Are you curious to know what projects each Guild works on throughout the year? Please submit a written
update or photo of the guild or project to Ann Massey at acmassey1@bellsouth.net to be included in future
Newsletters.
PAGE 8
Greater Atlanta Basket Guild
ANNUAL PICNIC – Saturday, June 21 at the home of our new president, Linda Lattanzio!
Clockwise from back left: Karen Blackwood, Kathleen Fosha, Annette Roose, Betty Wong, Jean Nash, Kathie Smith,
Cindy Lampman, Judi Purvis, Linda Lattanzio
New 2014-2015 GABG Officers
President
Vice President/Programs
Treasurer
Space Coordinator
Raffle Coordinator
Secretary/Newsletter
Linda Lattanzio
Kathie Smith
Barb Wisuri
Kathleen Fosha
Betty Wong
Annette Roose
lattanziot@mac.com
halosmi@aol.com
wisurib@gmail.com
kathleenfosha@gmail.com
Betty_wong1@yahoo.com
roosefamily@comcast.net
FALL Projects:
At our September meeting, we made this lovely bracelet using 1.5mm leather rope and African Opals with a button closure. A big thank you goes out to Barb Wisuri who provided kits and instructions for this fun project.
Annette Roose will be leading us in making a Holiday
Market Basket using jingle bells with a bow accent!
Della Boyd will be leading us in weaving Mini-Angels,
just in time for the holidays and the GBA Baskets to Love
Tree!
G B A N EW SL ET T ER
PAGE 9
Gwinnett Basket Weavers Guild:
Once again, GBWG members enjoyed time together at our annual
summer retreat in Helen. We had a great time weaving, laughing,
and eating delicious food. One of our members, Tisa Barton, had
taken a class at TBA on how to make Burden Stones. Tisa taught
several of us how to make them.
GBWG members at our summer retreat in Helen, GA.
Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt University Angel Basket
This is an ongoing project organized by Tennessee Basketry Association. GBWG, along with other guilds and individuals, is making carrying baskets for families whose babies have passed away and are being taken to a funeral home.
Members made several Angel baskets at our June meeting and at our Helen Retreat in August.
Alice Ogden Class
Several members of the GBWG took a 3 day workshop with nationally known ash basket weaver Alice Ogden. Alice will
be teaching her baskets at Baskets to Love in 2015. L to R—Jane Sudderth, Patti Patterson, Alice Ogden, Tracey Reidy,
Gwen Clark.
PAGE 10
Shooting Creek Basket Weavers Guild:
Our annual picnic was held at Nancy Jones’ house. We were honored to have two special guests with us. Founding member and
president emeritus of the National Basketry Organization, Mike Davis,
along with professional split oak basket weaver Edgar Shelton.
Mike Davis, editor-in-chief of NBO Quarterly Review, spoke to the
group about NBO and his local farming community near Murphy, NC.
Edgar Shelton, who learned how to weave from his 90 year old
neighbor in Upper Peachtree, NC, brought some of his split oak baskets to display.
R-L Edgar Shelton, Mike Davis, Kay Swanstrom, Ann Massey, Ike Stovall
SCBWG president Kay Swanstrom with
Edgar Shelton and his split oak baskets.
Mike Davis
Guild member Sally Spring with one of her
pine needle baskets.
Summer and early fall classes taught by guild members:
Wrapped Handles/Joan Stoneham
Bandana Basket/Dixie Bodamer
Chair Caning/
Annie Foreman
G B A N EW SL ET T ER
PAGE 11
Upcoming Events
October 4-5, 2014
JCC Folk School Fall Festival
www.folkschool.org
October 23-26, 2014
Dorothy Gill Barnes—The Nature
of Arrowmont
Arrowmont School of Arts &
Crafts/Gatlinburg, TN
www.arrowmont.org
October 30-November 2, 2014
Flo Hoppe-Japanese Basketry
Techniques
Arrowmont School of Arts &
Crafts/Gatlinburg, TN
www.arrowmont.org
July 14-19, 2015
National Basketry Organization
Biennial Conference
Macalester College, St. Paul,
MN
December 7-13, 2014
Marianne Barnes “Creative
Embellishments for Gourd
Art—Holiday Style”
JC Campbell Folk School:
October 5-11, 2014
Don Ferris “Nantucket Lightship Baskets: Weaving a Collectible”
January 4-10, 2015
Susan Taylor “Backpack Baskets”
October 12-18, 2014
Jean Kerr “Pine Needle Basketry”
October 26-Nov. 1, 2014
Lee Nelson “Basketry Trio”
November 7-9, 2014
West Virginia Basketmakers Convention
Harrison County 4-H and Recreation Facility/Clarksburg, WV.
www.wvbasketweaversassoc.
com
November 9-14, 2014
Valerie Poirier “Backpacks,
Totes, and Market Baskets”
February 6-8, 2015
November 16-22, 2014
JoAnn Kelly Catsos “Shaker
Baskets and Brooms”
GBA Convention
www.georgiabasketry.com
March 19-22, 2015
NCBA Convention
www.ncbasketmakers.com
November 14-16, 2014
Peggy McCarson “Stair Step
Basket with a Thrifty Twist”
December 3-6, 2014
Pattie Bagley “Woven Ornaments & Decorations”
January 16-18, 2015
Ike Stovall “Pine Needle Basketry”
January 18-24, 2015
Beth Hester “Gardening Baskets”
February 1-6, 2015
Judy Zugish “Backyard Baskets”
February 6-8, 2015
Judy Zugish “Willow Bark
Bias Weave”
February 15-21, 2015
JoAnn Kelly Catsos
“Miniature Black Ash Baskets”
February 22-27, 2015
Joyce Shannon “Closed Coiling with Cane & Raffia”
Please visit www.folkschool.org for
complete information on classes offered
at JC Campbell Folk School. Many of
our talented GBA members teach
PAGE 12
GBA Officers:
www.georgiabasketry.com
President
Tracey Reidy
Past President
Vice President
Treasurer
Secretary/Newsletter
Historian
Webmaster
Pattie Bagley
Judi Purvis
Sybil Sweat
Ann Massey
Barb Wisuri
Kathy Morris
The purpose of the Georgia Basketry Association shall
be to perpetuate the art of basketry, stimulate interest
and knowledge in all phases of basketry, and preserve
the importance of basketry as a heritage craft.
Membership is open to anyone of similar purpose.
Check out our Facebook page and “like” us for
regular updates.