Basketry is possibly the oldest craft still in existence. Although basket-making is among the most ephemeral of textile arts, some have endured even into modern times. Originally a craft born of need, basketry's functional duties have been replaced in our machine society by plastic and paper. Yet we preserve them in museums and collect baskets made by less-developed cultures as decoration or art objects. Because baskets have changed so little over time, as an unassuming sort of everyday object, they provide a tangible link with our past. Millennia-old methods of plaiting, twining, and coiling are still used today. And basketry, unlike most other crafts, has proven resistant to production by machine.
Leading Fiber Artisan
Ed Rossbach has been interested in baskets and their cultural significance for some thirty years, and he has been creating his own baskets for nearly twenty. His thoughtful analysis of basketry is contained in his books, The Nature of Basketry (1986; first published 1973) and The New Basketry (1976). A free spirit and pioneer, at seventy-three Rossbach is recognized as a seminal figure in postwar American fiber arts. He was among the first to make use of nontraditional materials, to research and revive ancient techniques, and to explore ethnic textiles and baskets in a contemporary context. Along with other innovators like Lenore Tawney and Sheila Hicks, he has helped to lay the groundwork for today's varied expressions in fiber. The current revival of basketry as a serious artistic endeavor owes much to Rossbach's books, teaching, and handicraft.
Rossbach's work often surprises those who expect contemporary basketry to resemble tribal or traditional craft. Many of his baskets are made from the most ordinary disposable by-products of our daily world--newspapers, plastic, commercial packaging, or cloth. Some are constructed by using traditional techniques of plaiting, coiling, or twining; others involve unorthodox methods such as stapling. Some exhibit classic shapes, with strong visual references to particular containers such as jugs, platters, teapots, or Chinese ritual vessels; others are almost like sculptures. This varied array has its common root in Rossbach's ability to assimilate many influences and distill them through a modern interpretation of techniques, structures, and materials. He is one of those rare individuals who is able to translate his philosophic understanding of a craft into the actual form of his own work, yet his baskets can be appreciated for their sensual, abstract, and expressive qualities alone. Understanding how Rossbach's beliefs have culminated in these simple objects gives them a metaphoric potential beyond what is usually associated with craft.
Basketry became Rossbach's major interest late in his career, although he actually attempted to make his first basket as a young serviceman while stationed on the Aleutian Islands during World War II. Knowing the Aleuts were expert at weaving beautiful baskets, he had expected to see such artifacts of their life there, but instead discovered that these people and their culture had been moved from the islands. All that remained was the stark, silent landscape and the native grasses the Aleuts had used so skillfully. Thinking about this isolated environment and the people who had once lived there, Rossbach gathered local grasses and made several unsatisfactory attempts at weaving them into baskets. Despite such an unsuccessful beginning, this experience provided him with a lasting insight into basketmaking as
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