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Basketworks by Modern Masters

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Where: Racine Art Museum

When: 09/28/2008 to 01/04/2009

Time: 10:00am to 5:00pm

Days of Week: Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

Sponsor: RAM

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Description:

Basketworks: The Cotsen Contemporary American Basket Collection debuts select works from a 151-piece gift donated to the Racine Art Museum by internationally known fiber collector Lloyd Cotsen. Containing works from the late 1980s forward, this show introduces pieces by significant fiber artists who have advanced the medium of contemporary basketry. When added to RAM?s existing collection, the Cotsen baskets create one of the largest contemporary basket collections in any art museum at the United States.

The fiber artists highlighted in this exhibition approach their art from a broad range of perspectives. Several artists explore the nature of the materials they employ and the surfaces and textures they create. Other artists treat their work as small-scale architectural forms or sculptures with interior and exterior spaces to explore visually. Still other basket makers respond to the tradition of natural materials used in basketry by employing contemporary manufactured objects such as plastic pop rivet fasteners, metal foil, coated colored electrical wires and recycled everyday materials like clothespins.