THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) – Police in northern Greece say they have arrested four people for trying to sell two religious icons and a golden cross dating to the Middle Ages for euro5 million ($7 million).
The arrests follow a sting operation in which an undercover officer posed as a prospective buyer. Police say the icons – religious paintings on wood – represent Greek Orthodox saints. All three artifacts were confiscated.
Under Greek law, all ancient and medieval artifacts are state property. Their sale by anyone except a small number of licensed traders and collectors is strictly prohibited.
Police said on Thursday that a large number of other antiquities was confiscated following raids on the suspects’ homes in Serres, a town 50 miles (80 kilometers) northeast of Thessaloniki.
The suspects were identified as Greeks aged 56 to 74.
Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
MILTON, W.Va. (AP) – A fire followed by exploding ammunition has destroyed the Milton Flea Market.
The fast-spreading blaze at the U-shape wood and metal structure in Cabell County was reported around 11 a.m. Wednesday. Milton Assistant Fire Chief Steve Vititoe says ammunition from one of the booths went off.
By mid afternoon, the building had collapsed. No injuries were reported; the flea market is only open on weekends.
Every fire department in Cabell County was called to the scene, along with some firefighters from neighboring counties. One fire truck received significant damage while fighting the fire, said county Emergency Medical Services Director Gordon Merry.
The venue opened in 1989 and grew to become one of the region’s largest flea markets with more than 300 vendors who sold antiques, collectibles, crafts and jewelry.
Milton Mayor Betty Sargent estimates the market draws about 10,000 visitors each weekend. “The fire has really devastated this community,” she said.
Nina Roberts of Barboursville ran a candle shop at the market for three years. Because it’s difficult to secure insurance for a flea market-based business, she said she’ll be taking a loss on her $25,000 to $30,000 worth of inventory.
“I am watching everything just go up,” she said.
Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Photo courtesy of The City of Duluth, Minn. – all rights reserved.
DULUTH, Minn. (AP) – The Duluth City Council has postponed selling the city’s historic Tiffany window until next month.
The council postponed selling the stained-glass window until Oct. 13th, in hopes of finding a local buyer.
Two weeks ago, the council voted to sell the 115-year-old window to help balance the budget. But after an outcry in the community, council member Jay Fosle sponsored a resolution to give more time to find a local buyer.
The window depicts a fictional American Indian princess, Minne-Ha-Ha, or “Laughing Water.”
Council member Sharla Gardner says she spoke with the city’s purchasing director, who said the deadline for a local buyer to express interest is September 17th. If no one comes forward with a reasonable plan, the window will be sent to an auction house.
BATLEY, ENGLAND – Police in West Yorkshire, England are investigating a major theft of Clarice Cliff Art Deco pottery from an upscale retail establishment in the town of Batley. According to Detective Constable Sophie Lawrence of Dewsbury CID, the apparently premeditated theft of approximately 55 articles – mostly Clarice Cliff pottery, with the addition of three Lalique bowls, bronzes and an Etling bowl – occurred either late on the night of July 25 or in the early morning hours of July 26.
The items were taken from Muir Hewitt Art Deco Originals, a shop located on the top floor of Redbrick Mill, a stylishly refurbished four-story shopping complex at 218 Bradford Road in Batley. The stolen goods are valued at approximately $150,000.
Police say that, in what has become an all-too-familiar pattern, the thieves probably hid somewhere in the Redbrick Mill after the shops had closed for the night, made their entry into Muir Hewitt’s shop, then exited through a fire escape with the stolen articles.
Muir Hewitt’s Clarice Cliff collection was built over a 25-year period and contains several extremely rare and distinctive examples. One of the most valuable items stolen, a yo-yo vase in the Coral Firs pattern, is pictured here, along with other key pieces.
This stunning coffee table with free-edge buckeye burl top with natural occlusions and walnut base was made in 1981 and retained a copy of Nakashima’s original drawing. It brought a record $288,000 at a Sollo Rago sale on April 21, 2007. Image courtesy Sollo Rago Auctions.
George Nakashima was an interpreter of trees, listening to the voice of nature and translating wood and bark into timeless furniture.
That’s part of the allure of Nakashima (1905-1990), the iconic artisan whose sinuous, realistic studies attract a growing crop of admirers.
“One of the enduring qualities of his work is his ability to communicate his love of wood to other people,” says Robert Aibel, who sells Nakashima furniture at Moderne Gallery in Philadelphia. “He made furniture that people live with – the dining room table where you eat, the rocker where you nurse your baby.” Nakashima was the most prolific and best-known figure of the American Studio Furniture Movement (1940-1990), an artistic renaissance born in the City of Brotherly Love that promoted craft as an antidote to mass-produced modern furniture. Nakashima’s workshop in nearby New Hope, Pa., produced 25,000 pieces ranging from two-legged Conoid chairs to the massive Peace Table at the Cathedral of John the Divine in Manhattan. Matt Freeman, who grew up a few miles from the studio, was raised with Nakashima furniture his parents used and enjoyed every day. He remembers the list of pieces getting taller as he did, eventually including a dining room table and chairs, end tables, cabinets and shelves.
“My parents weren’t overly protective about the furniture, but all the pieces are in pristine shape today, 40 years later,” he said. “Even as kids we had this quiet respect for the way they were made … They’d just sort of sit there quietly glowing. We’d set down our soda glasses and sticky lollipops somewhere else, not on the Nakashima.”
Like children, each tree has its own personality. Nakashima was the first to embrace the knotholes, fissures and splits in wood as wondrous expressions of nature rather than imperfections. While most furniture makers discard the thin, irregular ends of slabs, Nakashima integrated them into his designs. Known as “free edges,” those elements are factors in determining the value of a piece. Basically, the more free edges, the greater the value.
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Working from their modest home in east-central Indiana, this family of artists produced a relatively small, but highly regarded, amount of art pottery in the first quarter of the 20th century.
“Their production of quote-unquote important pieces is rather low in the scheme of things. Yet in spite of that, they have gained a very good name in Arts & Crafts circles. After all, it is really close to as pure an Arts & Crafts pottery as there is because basically it’s all made by hand,” said Don Treadway of Treadway Toomey Galleries. His company regularly sells Overbeck pottery at its auctions in Chicago and Cincinnati, but seldom more than several pieces per year.
“If you wanted to go out and buy or build a large collection of important pieces of Overbeck, it would be very difficult. A large collection would be a dozen pieces,” said Treadway, adding, “In terms of really fine examples, it’s in limited supply.”
Image courtesy Treadway Toomey.
Misfortune certainly played a hand in the dearth of Overbeck pottery. Margaret, the second-eldest of the six Overbeck sisters, died at age 49 in 1911, the year she and three siblings founded Overbeck Pottery. Margaret attended Cincinnati Art Academy in the 1890s, later studied under Arthur Dow of Columbia University and spent a summer working at a Zanesville pottery works. She taught art at several private schools and finally at DePauw University. She returned home after being injured in an auto accident in 1910 and died the following year.
Hanna Overbeck, who attended Cincinnati Art Academy and Indiana State University, is considered the ultimate designer of the family. Between 1903 and 1916 many of her sketches were published in Keramic Studio, a leading journal for china painters. She taught art in public schools before returning home in poor health. Plagued by severe neuritis, she continued to design for the pottery. She died in 1931 at the age of 61.
The Overbecks were commissioned in 1920 to make this 9 1/8-inch black vase as a gift to a woman celebrating her 18th birthday. Image courtesy Cincinnati Art Galleries.
Elizabeth Overbeck became the ultimate potter after studying at the New York State School of Clay Working and Ceramics under noted ceramicist Charles F. Binns. She taught, lectured and exhibited widely, bringing considerable recognition to the pottery. Chiefly the potter and technician, she did little designing or decorating. Elizabeth died in 1936.
The youngest Overbeck sister, Mary Frances, was considered the jack-of-all-trades. She designed bookplates, sculpted and painted in addition to creating pottery. Working alone after the death of Elizabeth, she concentrated on sculpting pottery figures. Mary Frances died in 1955.
Two other sisters, Ida and Harriet, and a brother, Charles, rounded out the family. Ida, the eldest and only Overbeck sister to marry, operated a photography studio in Cambridge City. Harriet was an accomplished musician who gave private lessons and maintained the Overbeck household for many years.
An abstract landscape of houses is the subject matter on this unusual bowl. Measuring 5 inches in diameter, the bowl has the impressed OBK mark on the bottom. Image courtesy Treadway Toomey.
Two principles that guided the Overbecks from start to finish were that all borrowed art, such as motifs and designs from Europe and Japan, was dead art; and all good applied design is original.
Treadway said the Overbecks are best known for their incised and painted matte pottery, and noted that collectors want vases that command a presence on a shelf, specifically “anything that is multicolored—the more colors the better. Nine times out of 10 it’s going to be incised. Many times it’s going to have a geometric feel to it, whether it’s organic or figural. That’s inherent to their pottery,” he said.
While Rookwood and Newcomb produced lines of painted matte pottery, theirs differed in theme and subject matter, said Treadway. “When you see a piece of Overbeck you normally don’t have to pick it up and look at the bottom for a signature. The artwork, the way it was produced, the coloration and many times the shape; it all just screams Overbeck,” he said.
Large Overbeck vases are especially desirable. This 14 1/2-inch vase is decorated with a carved and painted design of red stylized fuchsia and is signed with the artists’ initials E and H. Image courtesy Treadway Toomey.
“Overbeck is a specific type of work and there are few companies that produced that look. The Overbecks were very good at what they did. It was a small output, but they did it very well,” said Treadway. Because of the Overbecks’ limited output, Treadway said some collectors are content to own a single example of their work.
“Anyone who wants a well-rounded collection, whether it’s American art pottery or Arts & Crafts pottery, and has the pocketbook to match that taste, really should have a piece of Overbeck. That said, I cannot emphasize how hard it is to find the right piece. It’s something that does not come along every day,” said Treadway.
Prices for choice Overbeck pottery regularly range from several thousand dollars to more than $20,000. “The highest prices have been paid just recently, but the really good pieces have not been cheap for a long time,” said Treadway.
Crafting items that were functional was also important to the Overbecks. For every large vase they made, they produced many more tea sets, all of which were handmade.
An early example of the Overbecks’ Arts & Crafts style, this 14 1/4-inch vase sold for $67,850 at Cincinnati Art Galleries in June of 2007, at that time an auction record for an Overbeck piece with a floral motif. Image courtesy Cincinnati Art Galleries.
“There’s that old bugaboo that utilitarian things taking a back seat to the strictly artistic. A vase is always going to be more exciting to collectors than a teapot,” said Riley Humler, art pottery specialist at Cincinnati Art Galleries, which sold a 14 1/2-inch Overbeck vase at its Keramics 2007 auction in June for $67,850.
Humler said the Overbecks’ most popular pottery was made in the Arts & Crafts period prior to 1920. “Then they began to do some things that are a bit more Art Deco, which I like but the Arts & Crafts people aren’t as enamored with,” he said.
The Overbeck mystique and the scarcity of their work make the pottery all the more popular today. “There couldn’t have been a huge output, particularly early on. Rarity has an impact. I think the whole story of the six sisters, four of whom were involved with the production of the pottery, is a factor. Here in this tiny town in Indiana with a tiny facility these women produced some amazing stuff in a true studio pottery setting.” said Humler. “Rookwood made some truly incredible pottery with a whole raft of workers, artisans, chemists and technical people. At the same time the Overbeck sisters made some amazing things in a backyard setting.”
Even small Overbeck pots like this 2 1/2-inch vase are held in high esteem when the look is right. Decorated with a carved and painted floral design in a tan and mauve glaze, this little vessel sold at auction in May 2006 for $5,750. Courtesy Treadway Toomey Galleries.
Even without the support of professional ceramists and the best equipment, the Overbecks managed to create art pottery that holds up fairly well technically to their contemporaries. “Artistically in many cases it’s superb, but from a technical point of view it may not be as good as some of the things Grueby and Teco produced in terms of consistency, “ said Humler.
Even the Overbecks’ functional pieces are scarce because the sisters held steadfast to the Arts & Crafts creed of producing only handmade wares. They declined offers from major department stores to mass-produce their wares.
“Ayers and Marshall Field tried to get them to take orders, but they didn’t want to have to do anything that had to be done on time. They were just artists. They were not in the production business whatsoever,” said Phyllis Worl of the Overbeck Museum in Cambridge City.
Stylized pinecones on this 5 3/4-inch vase are typical of the cialist at Cincinnati Art Galleries, which sold naturalistic decorations found on Overbeck pottery. This nice example sold for $7,475 at Treadway Toomey’s June 2007 auction.
However, the Overbecks often took orders from individual customers. “We have a piece in our November sale that was a present for a girl’s 18th birthday. It was a commission. They went to the Overbecks’ house and said here’s what we want. Can you make it?” said Humler.
Worl said the Overbecks were accommodating to customers and visitors. “When you went there, they offered you a cup of tea. They had beautiful manners and were very ladylike,” she said. Worl scoffed at the notion there was anything odd or unnatural about five unmarried sisters living under one roof. “I could see how they could live together. They got along because they were artists. They were a team. In those days a woman couldn’t get married, raise a family and still have a career,” she said.
“They were extremely talented and left the world a lot of beautiful things to prove it,” said Worl.
Cloaked women are carved on the sides of this 6 1/2-inch blue matte vase. Image courtesy Treadway Toomey.
Navajos of the Four Corners area have been making Teec Nos Pos weavings since the early 1900s.
This example features the brilliant colors and bold geometric designs that make this type a favorite.
93½ by 49 inches. Image courtesy Cowan’s Auctions Inc.
Commercially produced yarn colored brightly using aniline dyes enabled Navajo weavers to create what traders called Eye-Dazzlers. This example (53 by 35 inches), having long looped fringe on the lower edge and sides, was from the Roy Rogers estate. It sold for $4,312.50, more than double the high estimate. Cowan’s Auctions.
The most highly collected and recognized form, the Navajo blanket, has shifted from an outer garment wrapped around the shoulders to a decoration on floors and walls. Hanging a traditional blanket vertically duplicates how it would have looked covering the doorway of a Navajo hogan.
Legend says Spider Woman, the powerful creative deity from the Underworld, taught the Navajo how to weave. Historians believe weaving in the Southwest originated with the ancestors of the Pueblo people. They were already using looms when Spanish explorers arrived. Colonization of New Mexico beginning in 1598 initiated trade between the Spanish and the Pueblo. Increasingly oppressive Spanish rule sparked a deadly revolt in 1680. When the Spanish reconquered the territory in 1692, many Pueblos took refuge in the Navajo lands.
The Pueblos taught Navajo women loom weaving, a technical art that takes years of practice to learn. Having acquired sheep from the Pueblo and Spanish, the Navajo have traditionally used wool for their textiles. Finely woven Navajo blankets were famous for their ability to shed water. While Pueblo weaving has always been for Indian use, the Navajo traded their textiles with other Indians and Anglos.
A central diamond surrounded by eight triangular elements at the edges creates a distinctive image that has made the Third Phase blankets the best-known Navajo weavings. This chief blanket (58¼ inches square) is woven of native handspun wool colored with natural and aniline dyes. It sold for $1,955. Cowan’s Auctions Inc.
Opening of the Santa Fe Trail in 1822 and acquisition of the territory by the United States in 1848 resulted in increased recognition of Navajo weaving. Walk in Beauty: The Navajo and Their Blankets by Anthony Berlant and Mary Hunt Kahlenberg (1977, Little Brown & Co.) states that in 1849, when Lt. James Simpson led the first official U.S. expedition into Navajo country, he noted in his journal that the Navajo people made what were “probably the best blankets in the world.”
While economic conditions and changing lifestyles of the Navajo people have affected the progression of their art form, demand for it grows. Auctioneers regularly schedule sales highlighting woven textiles within the greater category of American-Indian art.
The Cincinnati auction house Cowan’s made a big impact on the future market for American Indian weavings in 2002 when they sold a collection deaccessioned by the Western Reserve Historical Society. Among the items sold at that auction was a Classic Period Navajo child’s wearing blanket (46 by 31½ inches) that sold for $48,300. A Navajo Third Phase chief blanket (67 by 55 inches) sold for $26,450. Both textiles had once belonged to a U.S. Army cavalry officer who was stationed in the West in the late 1860s.
While museum-quality pieces from the 19th century like these are scarce, later weavings are readily available and more affordable to collectors and decorators.
Western Reservation refers to the remote western region of the Navajo Nation in northern Arizona. “Railroad tracks” on a vibrant red ground run the length of this Western Reservation weaving (80 by 52½ inches). It sold within estimate for $2,300. Cowan’s Auctions Inc.
“I think they are terrific decorating pieces. They don’t go out of style,” said Danica M. Farnand, Cowan’s American Indian Arts specialist. “If you have an Arts & Crafts or Prairie-style house, they’re perfect for that. There is a lot of work and craftsmanship that goes into them, and people understand and respect that. I think, in general, they are timeless pieces.”
Americans have long held an appreciation for Indian and art, which became widely accessible in the first half of the 20th century. “People tend to use the more contemporary pieces to decorate their homes,” said Farnand. “During the 1920s, ’30s and ’40s there was a lot of travel out West, and during that period people could bring these weavings home because they were easy to transport. So there are many blankets from that time frame, and people use them for decorating. People can decorate with the older pieces, but they tend to bring more money because earlier and rarer.”
A Two Grey Hills interpretation of the Storm pattern, consisting of a central rectangle with four lines extending from its corners to four rectangles at the corners of the weaving, has been a popular Navaho design since the early 1900s. Image courtesy Cowan’s Auctions Inc.
Ron Munn of R.G. Munn Auction, Cloudcroft, N.M., who has been selling American-Indian textiles for 40 years, sees a constant demand for these pieces. “Looking back to the 1920s, the first heyday of the popularizing of Navajo textiles, wealthy people – industrialists, business owners and professionals – collected them. It was not uncommon to see a picture of a Victorian home that would have five or six Persian carpets on the floor and there were two or three Navajo rugs mixed in with them. People bought them for their aesthetic beauty as well as the fact that they are an important part of American culture,” said Munn.
While Classic period (1850-1875) and Transitional (1875-1890) weavings are the realm of serious collectors, nice 1920s-vintage rugs are still available. “The big difference is they’re not $400 or $500 apiece anymore,” said Munn, who finds it difficult to replace a weaving he sells for the price he paid. “If you sell a great piece for $25,000 and try to replace it, you can’t get one for less than $30,000. So you buy it and the price of that rug is now $35,000, not $25,000 anymore,” he said.
Munn said collectors evaluating a weaving look for the caliber of the weave, the visual impact of the design and the technical difficulty to create it. A good example is the Teec Nos Pos style developed by weavers from the Four Corners area where Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona meet, said Munn. “Teec Nos Pos is a multicolored weaving. Almost all the design elements are outlined in a different color. The technical expertise to weave that rug is staggering. They are in great demand right now,” he said.
Another important factor in evaluating post-Classic period Navajo textiles is whether the weaving is done using native handspun wool, which is generally more desirable than a comparable piece woven with commercial machine-spun yarn.
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“It took a Navajo three times as long to drop-spin the wool, dye it and prepare it than to go down to the local trading post to buy three skeins of commercial yarn,” said Munn. “There are a lot of 1950s weavings that are of commercial yarn, and that drastically affects the value (downward).” Munn emphasized he was not referring to those Classic Period Navajo blankets made of machine-spun yarn.
Following their surrender to Kit Carson in January 1864, more than 8,000 Navajo men, women and children were forced from their homeland and made to endure internment near Bosque Redondo, N.M. Deprived of their flocks, Navajo weavers were introduced to machine-spun yarn produced in Germantown (Philadelphia), Pa. Blankets made from these yarns are called Germantowns. Over the years the term Germantown has come to mean any three- or four-ply machine-spun yarns from any Eastern mill.
Ye’ii figures (Navajo holy persons or deities) were not depicted on textiles until after 1900. Corn Ye’iis are flanked by female Ye’iis on this weaving (58 by 50 inches) of native hand-spun wool in vegetal green and aniline dyes. Image courtesy Cowan’s Auctions Inc.
After signing a peace treaty, the Navajo were allowed to return to their homeland in 1868, but their way of life was forever changed.
Another factor in evaluating American Indian textiles is the color: natural wool, vegetal or factory-made aniline dyes, or a combination of these. Munn said tastes change in this regard. Currently buyers prefer a brighter palette. “Ten years ago the vegetal-dye weavings – Chinle, Wide Ruins and Crystal – were on the crest of a wave. Today that market is somewhat slow, even though it takes a weaver twice as long to make an all vegetal-dyed homespun rug,” said Munn.
The cryptic names that have been given to styles of Navaho weavings often denote the town or trading post where they originated. Examples are Crystal, N.M., and Ganado, Ariz. Weavings whose place of origin cannot be pinpointed are often identified by region, such as Western Reservation in Arizona.
Munn advises buyers that reproductions are being made on mechanical looms in Mexico. “In many cases if it’s well done, from the back of the auction room you cannot tell whether it’s Navajo or Mexican. There are also a great deal of textiles now being done with traditional Navajo designs in Pakistan and other foreign countries,” said Munn. His advice to newcomers is buy from knowledgeable dealers and auctioneers who guarantee what they sell.
He also recommends learning as much as possible about the many styles, weaving techniques and materials. “Part of the fun of collecting is the learning process. When another collector tells you, ‘Oh, you shouldn’t have passed on that – it was a good buy,’ all of a sudden you realize you had better learn more,” said Munn.
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[av_textblock size=’16’ font_color=’custom’ color=’#686868′] BURNTWATER Weavers around Burnt-water, Ariz., developed this new style in the late 1960s. Building on design elements from Ganado and Two Grey Hills styles, Burntwater type weav-ings often feature bordered geometric designs with central, terraced diamonds. The distinguishing characteristic is use of pastel colored yarns derived by using local vegetal dyes.
CHINLE Developed in the 1930s in the Canyon de Chelly region of northeastern Arizona and named after the town nearby, this modern classic style is now woven across the Navajo reservation. Chinle weavings are typically borderless and char-acterized by alternating plain stripes with horizontal bands of geometric designs. Colors most often are pastel or earth tones, but they can also be bright colors.
CRYSTAL Navajos on the western side of the Chuska Mountains near Crystal, N.M., began supplying textiles for John B. Moore’s mail-order catalogs in the early 1900s. These old-style Crystal weavings featuring bordered designs with geo-metric patterns later influenced the work of the Two Grey Hills weavers on the other side of the moun-tains. Since the late 1930s Crystal textiles have been know for having golden tones and horizontal bands that include “wavy” lines. Colors are usually muted earth tones, but may include pastels and pinks.
GANADO This famous style originated at the trading post near Ganado, Ariz., where owner Juan Lorenzo Hubbell began trading with Navajos in the late 1870s. He was influential in the development of the weaving style in that area and encour-aged the weavers to improve the quality of their textiles. He preferred natural wool colors and deep aniline dyed red. The National Park Service has run the Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site since 1967.
KLAGETOH Meaning “Hidden Springs,” Klagetoh is a community south of Ganado on the Navajo Reservation in northeast Arizona. Though Ganado and Klagetoh weavings typically have sim-ilar central diamond motifs, these from the latter have a predominantly gray background.
TEEC NOS POS Named for a settlement in northeast Arizona, Teec Nos Pos textiles have been produced by Navajo people living around the Four Corners area. Since the turn of the 20th cen-tury these boldly colored textiles have exhibited Persian rug design influences elements including a central design element and a wide border.
TWO GREY HILLS Named for a former trading post near U.S. Route 666 in northwest New Mexico, Two Grey Hills textiles are typically fine quality weavings of undyed handspun wool in white, brown, black and gray, and feature strong geometric designs. Designs are strong, crisp geo-metric patterns. Later textiles may contain com-mercially prepared wool.WIDE RUINS Wide Ruins style is named for the former Wide Ruins Trading Post, where it originated about 1940. Located along U.S. Route 191 south of Ganado, Ariz., the trading post burned in 1986. The Wide Ruins style rug is borderless and characterized by horizontal bands with stepped di-amonds. Vegetal dyed wool produces the pastel earth tones seen in these finely woven textiles, which evolved from the Chinle style.
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This example, complete with an inscribed fitted storage box, was made during the 1970s by Suemura Shobun (1917-2000). Courtesy Erik Thomsen Asian Art, New York, N.Y.
As indicated in the opening of this poem by a contemporary basket maker, bamboo – rapidly growing and quickly spreading – occupies an important position in Japanese artistic tradition. On the one hand, the delicate fronds of the natural plant appear as a recurring motif on scrolls, ceramics, and metalware. On the other, mature bamboo stalks can be used in various forms to make furniture, carts, and baskets.
A 1999 exhibition catalog quoted basket artist Minoura Chikuho (b. 1934) on the subject of the material: “Bamboo has a certain tenderness, a breathing quality. When you weave it and pattern it, light passes through it; it is transparent and solid at the same time.’
“It also retains the qualities it has in nature, flexibility and strength, with the ability to spring back into shape whenever you bend it. In winter the bamboo bends right down under the snow. When spring comes again and the snow melts, the bamboo leaps back up as if nothing has happened.”
