"My Life as a Basket"

Sally Prangley

"For me, creating baskets and jewelry with wire is like drawing elegant three-dimensional shapes in the air."

Artist Sally Prangley is fascinated with the properties of wire. Whether thick as rope or fine as hair, wire evolves from a wound up coil to whatever shape Sally has in mind-- with some help from her fingers and favorite pliers! Every basket Sally creates has a title that reflects the idea that inspired her. Emotions, experiences from travel around the world, and puns are some of the most common inspirations for Sally.

Sally blends traditional basketry and wirework techniques to create her unusual and elegant wire baskets. All work is done by hand, freeform, using only wire and whatever beads/objects are worked into the piece. Baskets are created one at a time and begin with a rough sketch. Sally's favorite wires are stainless steel, annealed steel, bronze, and copper. Her primary source of beads is vintage necklaces- she considers the beads more unusual and appreciates their patina.

Sally learned traditional basketry years ago believing that someday she would create baskets using "alternative materials". The light bulb lit up inside Sally's head to use wire for baskets while taking a workshop on wire. Sally has drawn, painted, and created mixed media art all her life, largely self-taught. She minored in Art History at Northwestern University and received her MBA in Marketing from the George Washington University.