Providing an international look at contemporary basket making and its current level of innovation and experimentation, Intertwined includes over 70 traditional and non-traditional baskets from the prestigious Sara and David Lieberman collection. Highly textural and boldly shaped, the works in this extensive exhibition utilize a range of materials and techniques from traditional organic to commercial, and often surprising media like fish skins, porcupine quills and grocery bags. Represented artists include the well-known international to the regional, and works range from functional containers to closed, sculptural forms.

With their passion for collecting contemporary craft and their openness to new forms and ideas, the Liebermans have assembled one of the best collections of contemporary baskets in the nation over the past 40 years. At the beginning, they collected baskets for their “function and appeal” and their grounding in ancient traditions. Later, their selections soon included new works of great “vitality and vigor” that were more about “expression and communication” than function.

Featured artists in Intertwined include some of the major figures in contemporary basket making: Ed Rossbach, Katherine Westphal, Sally Black, Kiyomi Iwata, Kazuaki Honma, Dorothy Gill Barnes, Carol Eckert, John McQueen, Elsie Holiday, Ferne Jacobs, Norma Minkowitz, Fran Reed, Lisa Telford, John Garrett and many more.

Intertwined: Contemporary Baskets from the Sara and David Lieberman Collection is organized by the Arizona State University Art, Tempe, Arizona, and curated by Senior Curator Heather S. Lineberry and Jane Sauer, artist and scholar. Local viewing of this exhibition made possible in part by Institute of Museum and Library Services, Artsfund and the Guendolen Carkeek Plestcheeff Fund for the Decorative and Design Arts.