Three Sisters - sewing together

In 2008 I moved to South Carolina and saw my first Sweetgrass basket. And that same year as luck would have it, I heard about an exhibition and community project called Grass Roots - African Origins of American Art,  by Dale Rosengarten, Theodore Rosengarten and Enid Schildkrout. What an incredible group effort that set the tone for learning about my new home for years to come. 

 I joined  Preserving A Picturesque America whose goal is "Preserving natural and historic places through the power of the arts" and this summer we visited three sisters at their basket stand on Hwy 17 in Mt. Pleasant, SC.   
preservationthroughart.org/  

The history of Sweetgrass baskets is intertwined with the rice culture of South Carolina transplanted across the Atlantic by enslaved people from the Rice Coast of West Africa. Fanner baskets appeared in SC in the late 17th century  and were used for winnowing rice. The joining of form and function with distinct designs and preserving the tradition of the sewers is what motivated me to acknowledge their place in history and art history. 

So I brought my book from the 2008 project and had the ladies sign it this summer. Thank you Elizabeth F. Kinlaw, Linda F. Blake, and Alethia Foreman who is a left handed sewer, like her mother. Great women artists.

Development and time have put these artists, the sweetgrass and their roadside stands at risk so I'm thrilled to have been part of this painting adventure to preserve their work. These paintings were created using goauche and casein paints. ​