Jeanne Oster

I've tried to take a unique approach to basketry, adapting what has for centuries been an ubiquitous and practical craft and move it more towards pure art. My pieces are as likely to be sculptural as vessel-like; one of my goals is to encourage the appreciation of the process as well as the product.

Each of my baskets has at their core a teneriffe which can contain carved jade or polished stones, rough wood burls or found metal objects. The pine needles that I use in most of my baskets are collected from all over California, both from urban streets and parks as well as the foothills of the Sierras. But it is the paths that the coiled fibers take on their journey around their centers that make each basket unique, and the juxtaposition of unusual materials that gives each piece its beauty.