America’s oldest African-inspired art is the subject of this exciting new film—a visual feast that captures the skill, artistry, and history embodied in the tradition of coiled grass basketry.  We follow basket makers from Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina, as they harvest materials, create their baskets, and talk about the meaning of their work. From field to market, this half-hour documentary explores the current state of the art and its prospects for the future.   

video clip

The film will be shown in conjunction with an exhibition of Lowcountry and African baskets August 29 through November 30, 2008, at the Gibbes Museum of Art in Charleston, South Carolina.

GRASS ROOTS will air on SCETV’s Southern Lens on September 18, 2008, at 10 pm.

Preview Video Clip:     Quicktime format - 3MB          MPEG format - 3MB

Photo Gallery - click on images to enlarge:Veels

The African-inspired art of basket making takes on new forms in the Lowcountry.
This wave basket by Linda Graddick Huger is made from sweetgrass and bulrush sewn with palmetto.

Collection of Timothy and Pearl V. Ascue  
Photo: Karin Willis

Lowcountry basket makers use a filed-down spoon handle, called a “nailbone,”
to pierce the sweetgrass coil, making way for the palmetto binder. 

Photo: Karin Willis

Detail of Leola Wright’s “cowboy hat” basket, made of sweetgrass and pine needles, sewn with palmetto leaf -- a spectacular example of the evolution of a traditional art.

Collection of the McKissick Museum
Photo: Karin Willis

Joseph Foreman, Jr. displays his baskets at the Charleston Market. 

Photo: Dana Sardet

All photos courtesy of the Museum for African Art

2008, 27 minutes

Produced by Center for the Documentary at the College of Charleston, in association with the Avery Research Center
for African American History and Culture and the Museum for African Art in New York

director / videographer / editor: Dana Sardet
executive producer: Virginia T. Friedman
original music composed by: Quentin E. Baxter
with gospel songs by: We Be Brethren, Gullah Kinfolk, The Staple Singers
community advisors: Henrietta Snype and Nakia Wigfall
consulting historian: Dale Rosengarten

We are grateful for generous funding provided by:
Henry and Sylvia Yaschik Foundation
Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation
The Humanities Council of South Carolina
South Carolina Arts Commission

Sincere thanks to Thomasena Stokes-Marshall and the Sweetgrass Cultural Arts Festival Association for their help and encouragement.