USM Art Gallery Hosts International Basket Exhibit: "Baskets Around The World: Elemental Techniques-Artistic Vision"   February 27 - March 12th    2005                      Baskets Around the World: Elemental Techniques-Artistic Vision displays historic, contemporary, utilitarian, and fanciful baskets from the collection of renowned artist, teacher, and curator Carol Grant Hart.  International basketry artworks are also on loan from individual artists and browngrotta arts, known for its representation of fiber artists from the United States and abroad.     The exhibit is organized into four basic basket weaves: plaiting, twining, wicker, and coiling.  The first three methods interlace wefts (horizontal elements) and warps (vertical elements).  Coiling is more like sewing, beginning with a rod, cord, or bundle of material that wraps around itself to form a continuous spiral. The baskets here display a wide range of materials, with each basic weave branching into many variations.  Motivations differ: economic survival, continuing traditions, and creative expression co-exist, sometimes in one work.      The variety of baskets is extraordinary. Over 150 baskets on view from the Hart collection have been gathered from around the world: Alaska, China, Southeast Asia, the Philippines, Pacific Islands, North and South America, the British Isles, Western and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and India.  A selection of baskets continuing Maine traditions includes exquisite pieces by Teresa Hoffman and others from the Maine Indian Basket Alliance and by the superb craftsman Stephan Zeh.       Works in the realm of contemporary art are represented by Maine artist Lissa Hunter and others across the nation: Jonathan Kline, Nancy Bess, Judy Mulford, Dorothy Gill Barnes, Karyl Sisson, and Gyöngy Laky.  International artists include Anda Klancic, Slovenia; Jiro Yonezawa and Norie Hatakeyama, Japan; Dawn MacNutt, Canada; and Markku Kosonen, Finland.  With all these pieces juxtaposed in a gallery setting, their commonalities and differences spark a dialog of intrigue and delight.  Baskets Around World celebrates the ingenuity and creativity in basketry, a common heritage and continual source of inspiration.       -Carolyn Eyler, Director of Exhibitions and Programs     Thanks to Carol Grant Hart for curating baskets from her collection, her New England colleagues, and our travels in Maine; Tom Grotta for supplying works by some of the most significant basketry artists working today; helpful advice from Curator Jane Milosch, Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; and the generous design contribution from the Office of Marketing and Brand Management.