ARTIST STATEMENT
My ancestors depended on coiled baskets to get through laborious tasks, so a basket’s presence was often felt in their homes. Such an important household object needed a keeper, one who maintained the baskets and could make another when needed. As a basket weaver, I skillfully construct objects of organization, hand dye cotton using only natural materials, and avoid all adhesives in my work. I assemble the coils to fit my needs at the moment, but the basket has longevity; it will endure frequent and vigorous use. I, too, am a keeper. After using a basket, I clean and prepare it for the next time it will be employed. My baskets are made to endure frequent, vigorous use for a variety of tasks. Cotton and jute slide easily through my hand when coiling it around thick rope. Carefully wrapping the center, a spiral expands outwards into a curl that twists along my fingers. I encase the rope with twine until the coils need a stabilizing double stitch. A pattern emerges with each double stitch as I count one, two, and onward. This requires a final wrapping of twine and a tuck of the ending thread, neatly hidden behind the rows of cotton.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Veronica Hicks (Sacramento, California, USA) is an art education and women’s, gender, and sexuality studies scholar who contextualizes intersecting identities through narrative inquiry and arts-based research. She uses natural dye to hand craft three-dimensional objects that explore how art creation, knowledge, and identity intertwine for minority group populations.
© Veronica Hicks