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 splint 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 as having fallen short of the challenge. Nothing but firewood hit the wood stove and my weaving skills improved exponentially.
Installations of my work began in 1996 with Branching Out at the Alberta House Gallery in Sault Ste Marie, Michigan, an invitational exhibit at the Art Gallery of Algoma (Ontario), and the Oconomowoc (Wisconsin) Festival of the Arts. Since then, my work has been in national exhibitions, invitational fine art exhibits, printed publications, and a year-long ArtPOP Street Art billboard representing the fine art produced in Polk County, Florida. In 2018, I was invited to present a seminar on black ash basketry at Disney's Epcot International Festival of the Arts. Currently, an Art in the Park installation of living baskets called Nesting Instinct is on display at Loyce E Harpe Park in Lakeland, Florida.
The 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 splint 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 as having fallen short of the challenge. Nothing but firewood hit the wood stove and my weaving skills improved exponentially.
Installations of my work began in 1996 with Branching Out at the Alberta House Gallery in Sault Ste Marie, Michigan, an invitational exhibit at the Art Gallery of Algoma (Ontario), and the Oconomowoc (Wisconsin) Festival of the Arts. Since then, my work has been in national exhibitions, invitational fine art exhibits, printed publications, and a year-long ArtPOP Street Art billboard representing the fine art produced in Polk County, Florida. In 2018, I was invited to present a seminar on black ash basketry at Disney's Epcot International Festival of the Arts. Currently, an Art in the Park installation of living baskets called Nesting Instinct is on display at Loyce E Harpe Park in Lakeland, Florida.
The 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, Florida CraftArt, Professional Association of Visual Artists, Polk Museum of Art