Not, to the best of my knowledge, woven underwater

August 15, 2022 8:20 AM

"When I began making baskets in the 1980s, I made very useful baskets. Now I make very useless baskets." Lois Russell is a basketweaver, but this is definitely not basket weaving 101.

A few favourites: Teapots, Blue Blocks, random wire basket, Hills and Dales.

posted by jacquilynne (11 comments total)

I'm reminded of a bookbinder who said Americans didn't have a tradition of useful art objects. It was harder for him to find commissions for making interesting bindings for books that could still be read.
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 9:02 AM on August 15, 2022 [1 favorite]

Those are some fine looking baskets.
posted by snofoam at 9:11 AM on August 15, 2022

Wow, hifalutin basketry there! If I hadn't been told ahead of time they were woven, I think I would have assumed they were some kind of knitting or crochet.

I was just thinking this morning about those coffin-sized wicker baskets they used to use before body bags.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 9:28 AM on August 15, 2022

I love the teapots!
posted by Paul Slade at 9:33 AM on August 15, 2022 [1 favorite]

It was really the teapots that first made me stop and gawk at these, Paul Slade. They're just so cool.

I have a special affinity for teapots in art, ever since my undergraduate computer science classes in graphics where I learned that teapots are, somewhat unexpectedly, an elemental shape in some graphics systems. Like, points, lines, rectangles, ovals, teapots are the predefined things you can use to build more elaborate graphics. As our final project, my partner and I built a bowling game that had Rock n' Bowl mode where the flashing lights were all teapot shaped.
posted by jacquilynne at 10:10 AM on August 15, 2022 [2 favorites]

I mean, as long as there's some sort of opening to the inside, you could use them, but I wouldn't dare if I were lucky enough to have one.
posted by Halloween Jack at 10:34 AM on August 15, 2022 [1 favorite]

These are awesome!
posted by rhizome at 12:41 PM on August 15, 2022

Wowwww these are amazingly beautiful!
posted by medusa at 2:13 PM on August 15, 2022

Great stuff!
posted by Too-Ticky at 3:03 AM on August 16, 2022

These are lovely forms and textures. And I am tickled by impossible-teapots. I am so glad you posted this here.
posted by janell at 8:13 AM on August 16, 2022

teapots are, somewhat unexpectedly, an elemental shape in some graphics systems

The Utah teapot?
posted by grouse at 6:35 PM on August 17, 2022