My name is Marcia Morse Mullins. I live and work in Lakeland, Florida. The vessels and sculptural forms that I create grow from a passion for creating quality artwork from hand pounded black ash and other natural materials.
My journey began in the 1980s, when Mike Sagataw taught me the traditions of black ash basketry. Mike was a Potawatomi elder with a deep reverence for honoring the ancestors' knowledge. Following his teachings, I honor each felled tree and believe the spirit of an ash tree remains within the forms woven from its wood.
I also studied white oak splint basketry under Connie and Tom McColley in Chloe, WV. Tom gave me my first gnarly branch and challenged me to explore sculptural forms. I committed to a full year of experimenting with form over function and promised to burn any weaving that Tom deemed to fall short of the challenge. Nothing but firewood hit the wood stove and my weaving skills improved exponentially.
Then life overtook artistic expression. Raising two children required full-time employment and I found the meetings industry to be a good fit. A big promotion moved us away from my beloved black ash. Before long, twenty years had flown by and I felt an overwhelming need to weave again. Other materials didn't cut it, so in 2015 I went in search of a black ash basket tree. Now I travel to a northern cedar swamp each year, where one tree is selected and processed into high-quality weaving splint. Old habits die hard, if at all.
Installations of my work began in 1996 with Branching Out at the Alberta House Art Gallery in Sault Ste Marie, Michigan, an invitational exhibit at the Art Gallery of Algoma, and the Oconomowoc Festival of the Arts. Since 2015, my work has appeared in three local art shows and a year-long ArtPOP billboard representing the fine art produced in Polk County, Florida. The landing page for this website features the basket from that installation.
2018 is off to a great start! The calendar below will be updated as dates are confirmed:
The 2017 mini-documentary below was filmed, directed, and produced by Paul O'Neill as part of his "Eye For Art" series on Vimeo.
My journey began in the 1980s, when Mike Sagataw taught me the traditions of black ash basketry. Mike was a Potawatomi elder with a deep reverence for honoring the ancestors' knowledge. Following his teachings, I honor each felled tree and believe the spirit of an ash tree remains within the forms woven from its wood.
I also studied white oak splint basketry under Connie and Tom McColley in Chloe, WV. Tom gave me my first gnarly branch and challenged me to explore sculptural forms. I committed to a full year of experimenting with form over function and promised to burn any weaving that Tom deemed to fall short of the challenge. Nothing but firewood hit the wood stove and my weaving skills improved exponentially.
Then life overtook artistic expression. Raising two children required full-time employment and I found the meetings industry to be a good fit. A big promotion moved us away from my beloved black ash. Before long, twenty years had flown by and I felt an overwhelming need to weave again. Other materials didn't cut it, so in 2015 I went in search of a black ash basket tree. Now I travel to a northern cedar swamp each year, where one tree is selected and processed into high-quality weaving splint. Old habits die hard, if at all.
Installations of my work began in 1996 with Branching Out at the Alberta House Art Gallery in Sault Ste Marie, Michigan, an invitational exhibit at the Art Gallery of Algoma, and the Oconomowoc Festival of the Arts. Since 2015, my work has appeared in three local art shows and a year-long ArtPOP billboard representing the fine art produced in Polk County, Florida. The landing page for this website features the basket from that installation.
2018 is off to a great start! The calendar below will be updated as dates are confirmed:
- January 27: Epcot International Festival of the Arts - invitational seminar on Black Ash Basketry
- Feb 1-28: Good Morning Joe! invitational art challenge exhibit in Lakeland, Florida
- May 5 - Sept 29: Garden Baskets: From the Garden, For the Garden, & In the Garden - juried exhibit at the Philip Dickel Basket Museum, West Amana, Iowa
- August 18 & 19: Fine Art at the Magnolia invitational show in Lakeland, Florida
The 2017 mini-documentary below was filmed, directed, and produced by Paul O'Neill as part of his "Eye For Art" series on Vimeo.
Member: National Basketry Organization, Fiber Arts Network