Mary Jackson has turned sweetgrass basketry into a fine-art form
In the American artist’s hands, items once used for agriculture take on new dimensions
“NEVER AGAIN” sits at the intriguing intersection of art and craft. The object is both a basket, woven from sweetgrass and palmetto, and an abstract sculpture. Much wider than it is tall, from a distance “Never Again” seems to be of one hue, but on closer inspection you can see that its brown, cream and green fibres converge into purposeful, swirling patterns of colour. Such details encourage the viewer to study the work slowly, the way you might scrutinise a particular patch of a Jackson Pollock painting.
This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “Out of the ⇔long grass”
From the July 8th 2023 edition
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