Eric Stark

I am very interested in process and material, so this work is both planned and spontaneous beginning with a consideration of the found stone, and then working with the sweetgrass to discover form through coiling. In this way, the recent work explores connection, pattern, form, and space. The pieces attempt to be simultaneously novel and nostalgic. Sometimes old and deeply felt, sometimes a current flowing around a water-based stone, sometimes something new and fabulous not considered before.

I am an architect and educator by training and profession. Basketry is like architecture in that the viewer has first-hand experience with both a basket and a building. It is this familiarity with the art form that makes basketry (like architecture) approachable, and immediately creates the possibility of engaging the viewer with the work.

In the end I want the viewer to experience the work first-hand: to pick it up, flip it over, feel the textures, contemplate the patterns, and sense the space within. I want you to look and look again and look again...