About

Create a unique, sculptural vessel made of sweet grass and cedar as Polly Adams Sutton shares her iunique sculptural weaving styles and uses of traditional and non-traditional materials. 

This is an advanced workshop, where some prior experience with twining and cedar weaving will be helpful.  The pliability of Northwest Sweet Grass from the tidal flats of Washington, combined with the flexibility of Western Red Cedar gathered from local logging sites, will offer students an opportunity to create a unique vessel.  Sweet Grass twining will be the dominant technique.  Intermittently woven Bear Grass, skip stitches, and chase twining, will be introduced so students can create design and accents.  The focus will be on how to achieve an asymmetrical form through weaving and twining techniques. 

Material fee: $95, payable by cash or check at the first session. There will be materials for more than one basket.

Instructor: Polly Adams Sutton is a full-time studio artist, working with cedar bark to create sculptural baskets. Her educational background was art with an emphasis on painting and printmaking. Upon settling in the Pacific Northwest more than 35 years ago, she was introduced to basketry through the Seattle Weaver’s Guild. It has been her practicing art ever since. 

She harvests cedar bark each spring in logging areas near Seattle, WA. Her sculptural work is primarily twined, although she experiments with wire as a woven element in her asymmetrical shapes. 

She exhibits her work in galleries nationwide. Sutton was awarded an artist project grant in 2012 through the City of Seattle to experiment with invasive vines in her work and received an Artist Trust GAP grant in 2012. This was used inconjunction with the Seattle Weavers Guild Grant for investigating the basketry of Sardinia. Her work was chosen for the cover illustration of “500 Baskets.”