Billie Ruth Sudduth (NC, b. 1945), Two Fine Basketry Forms

Lot Details & Additional Photographs

Bakersville, North Carolina, woven in oak splints with bentwood rim, the first with carved bentwood handle, featuring a umber diagonal twill work pattern, ink signed and dated "Sudduth 2007" to the underside, and retaining "'JABOBS" tag to handle (9 x 7 1/4 x 7 1/4 in.); the second in cat's head form, dyed red madder staves and weavers, featuring a subtle diagonal weave band spiraling the body, signed and dated "Sudduth 1998" to the underside (6 12 x 8 x 8 in.).

Billie Ruth Sudduth is a widely acclaimed basket maker who lives in the mountains of North Carolina. A native of Sewanee, Tennessee, she was raised in Birmingham, Alabama. Her work is influenced by the traditions of North Carolina basketry techniques and materials, mathematical theory like the Fibonacci sequence, along with rich colors inspired by her sojourn in the Mohave Desert. Her baskets are typically twill work and cat's head forms, and are all done without any molds. The dyes that Sudduth uses are natural iron-oxide, henna, and madder, and she prefers to use European Cut reed for materials.

"Color is the essential ingredient in my work. It can express seriousness of mood or add a whimsical feeling to a piece. Most of my baskets are ribbed, plaited, or twined construction. Coiling, with its intricate stitching, resembles sewing to me and does not give me the feeling of hand-weaving. Almost all of my pieces are functional in that something can be put in them. However, I prefer my baskets not be viewed as containers - the space inside the basket is as important as that around it."

Sudduth is represented in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Renwick Gallery in Washington, D.C., the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City, and the Mint Museum in Charlotte, North Carolina, as well as in numerous corporate and private collections. Her work has been featured in American Craft, Southern Accents, Colonial Homes, Southern Living, and Smithsonian magazine, on the CBS program Sunday Morning, and on PBS and HGTV. In 1997 she was named a North Carolina Living Treasure, the state’s highest honor for creative excellence in crafts.