Clay Burnette

Pine Needle Basketry

ARTIST STATEMENT

The creation of a pine needle basket is a painstakingly slow process. I gather each longleaf pine needle directly from the tree, dry it, dye it, paint it, and then soak it in water before beginning the coiling process. Using an oversized sewing needle, I stitch my coils together with a variety of materials such as waxed linen, copper wire, brass wire, or telephone wire. Oftentimes, recycled antique glass seed beads and gemstone beads are threaded onto the coiling material as I stitch. When a basket is completed, it is heat-treated with a mixture of beeswax and paraffin and signed with my initials “CB”.

As I work on a basket, I am filled with a calming inner peace that I seem to only experience during this focused creative time period. And yet, at the same time I also feel an urgency to complete the object at hand so that I can begin the process all over again. Ideas are endless..... time is precious.

COLLECTIONS

Mint Museum of Craft + Design, Charlotte, NC
The White House Christmas Tree Ornament Collection, Washington, DC
Southern Progress (Southern Accents Magazine), Birmingham, AL (5 p
cs) SC State Art Collection, SC Arts Commission, Columbia, SC (2 pcs)
Springs Industries, Lancaster, SC
SC State Museum, Columbia, SC
SC History Center, Columbia, SC
NationsBank, Charlotte, NC
Grove Park Inn, Asheville, NC (3 pcs)
Kaiser Permanente, Atlanta, GA
Columbia Museum of Art, Columbia, SC
University of South Carolina - Sumter, Sumter, SC
Wachovia Bank, Columbia, SC
Binney & Smith, Inc. (Crayola Crayons), Easton, PA