AUGUSTA GALLERY
of WEST VIRGINIA FOLKLIFE
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| BASKET MAKING |
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Rod oak basket, Jim Costa Collection, southeastern West Virginia. (FA895P) |
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Clyde Case of Braxton County poses here with Kate Goodrich, his former apprentice. Clyde makes white oak baskets based on his memory of carrying them when he was young. Like many who still make baskets, he became most active after his retirement. (FA1094K) |
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Clyde Case of Braxton County working in his shop. Clyde’s ribbed baskets are made in a set of six different sizes, all in the ribbed basket style. (FA1094H) |
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Roscoe and Wesley Moats, of Pendleton County. Roscoe learned to make baskets as a youngster. He would regularly have to get up at 5 AM, well before heading off to school, to make baskets to support the family’s income. (FA1196B) |
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Homer Summers of Jackson County holds “rod baskets.” Rod basketry utilizes round “rods” of white oak as the main material. This style is extremely rare today. Homer made close to a thousand baskets before his death in 2001. ( FA191Q) |
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A traditional white oak “ribbed” basket. Also known as a “fanny” basket and a “melon” basket, this is a traditional Appalachian form. This basket was made by Clay Eye of Buffalo Mountain, Pocahontas County. FA291H |
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Elmer Richmond of Meadow Creek, Fayette County, makes a cedar and oak basket style he learned from his father. His father was a railroad man, and this style of basket was carried by workers on the C&O Line that runs along the New River through Elmer’s neighborhood. FA497K |
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A white oak basket made by a Simmons in Pendleton County. While white oak is the traditional material for basket making in West Virginia, the style of this basket comes from the Cherokee Indians. FA792C |
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Lidded rod oak basket from southeastern West Virginia in the Jim Costa Collection. The tradition is thought an American adaptation that comes from a European willow basket tradition. In America, the type is found in areas where German people settled. See Appalachian White Oak Basketmaking, Law and Taylor, University of Tennessee Press, 1991. FA895O |