Important dates often mean days that have marked peak moments of our lives – wedding date, birth dates for our children, death of our parents and close friends. For me there are several other dates that I celebrate because they changed my life. One was certainly finding my first basketry class in Spring 1972 – California farm girl learns to weave baskets at the Crafts Student's League on 8th Avenue in New York City! Another would be my purchase of How to Wrap Five Eggs and the exposure that book gave me to traditional Japanese Packaging, the inspiration for much of my work for many years. My first trip to Japan in the fall of 1986 changed my life forever, introducing me to the world of Japanese bamboo and basketry with an intimacy I had not anticipated. Inspired by that trip and many that followed, the publication of my book, Bamboo in Japan, with a Japanese publisher, Kodansha International, in Spring 2001 marked the culmination of years of research in Japan, Hawaii, and New York City.

Somehow all of those influences – basketry, Japan, Japanese packaging, bamboo – merged into one career of over thirty years, in which no part stands alone. What an interesting life it is turning out to be. Click here for my resume