This small basket resembles a traditional Shaker basket. The handle is small and thin, the rim has double-lashing, and the wood splints vary in thickness.
After moving to Washington, DC following World War II, Ira Blount mastered dozens of artisanal crafts. His love for crafting, learning, and community engagement would endure over the course of his long life and career. As a self-taught maker and member of the Basket Bunch, a basket-making guild in Prince George’s County, Maryland, artist Ira Blount found inspiration in multiple styles of basketry with unique aesthetics and histories. Part of what may have attracted Blount to this style of basketry was the Shaker tradition of simplicity and self-sufficiency, which mirrors his own beliefs and habits.