An interview of Billie Ruth Sudduth conducted 2007 July 26-27, by Mija Riedel, for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, at the artist's home and studio, in Bakersville, North Carolina.
Sudduth speaks of her childhood in Alabama; her adoptive family; growing up in a creative and musical environment; an early exposure to women working with their hands; buying a Cherokee basket at age 12; childhood piano lessons and later exploring rhythm in her baskets; attending Huntingdon College; a strained relationship with her mother; meeting her biological family; attending the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa and earning a Master's degree in social work; working as a social worker and psychologist for over 20 years; balancing a career with family; taking a basket-making class in an effort to relax and do something for herself; making baskets in spare time and teaching herself new techniques; her family's move to Las Vegas, Nevada; teaching basket-making classes to adults; developing Math in a Basket curriculum; an interest in Fibonacci and the inclusion of its ratio in her baskets; an interest in color and natural dyes; returning to North Carolina and focusing full time on basket making; receiving a North Carolina Arts Council Emerging Artists grant to photo-document her body of work; becoming interested in chaos theory and its application to her basketry; the popularity and success of Math in a Basket; teaching experiences at Penland School of Crafts, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, and John Campbell Folk School; receiving a North Carolina Arts Council Visual Artist grant to study Cherokee, Choctaw, and other Native American tribes' basketry; her extensive basket collection; the honor of being named a North Carolina Living Treasure; participating in juried shows, including exhibiting at the Smithsonian Craft Show for 12 years and the Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show for seven years; the evolution of her workspace and studio; making the Carolina snowflake, which was exhibited at the White House; her exhibition history; an increasing respect for and recognition of baskets as art objects; the advantages university-trained artists have over self-taught artists; learning the business side of art making through trial and error; living and working in an incredible community of artists and collectors in North Carolina; a growing interest and participation in donating her baskets for fundraisers; and looking forward to spending more time with her grandchildren. Sudduth also recalls Cynthia Bringle, Carol Sedestrom Ross, Kenneth Trapp, Howard Risatti, Katie Gingrass, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Billie Ruth Sudduth is a basketmaker from Bakersville, North Carolina. Mija Riedel (1958- ) is a curator and writer from San Francisco, California.
General:
Originally recorded on 3 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 15 digital wav files. Duration is 4 hr., 42 min.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
Recorded in: Oklahoma City (Okla.), United States, Oklahoma, 1982.
Restrictions:
Restrictions on access. Some duplication is allowed. Use of materials needs permission of the Smithsonian Institution.
Collection Rights:
Copyright and other restrictions may apply. Generally, materials created during a Festival are covered by a release signed by each participant permitting their use for personal and educational purposes; materials created as part of the fieldwork leading to a Festival may be more restricted. We permit and encourage such personal and educational use of those materials provided digitally here, without special permissions. Use of any materials for publication, commercial use, or distribution requires a license from the Archives; please submit this form. Licensing fees may apply in addition to any processing fees.
Recorded in: Tahlequah (Okla.), United States, Oklahoma, March 10, 1982.
Restrictions:
Restrictions on access. Some duplication is allowed. Use of materials needs permission of the Smithsonian Institution.
Collection Rights:
Copyright and other restrictions may apply. Generally, materials created during a Festival are covered by a release signed by each participant permitting their use for personal and educational purposes; materials created as part of the fieldwork leading to a Festival may be more restricted. We permit and encourage such personal and educational use of those materials provided digitally here, without special permissions. Use of any materials for publication, commercial use, or distribution requires a license from the Archives; please submit this form. Licensing fees may apply in addition to any processing fees.
Smithsonian Institution. Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Introduction:
The craft presentations at the 1968 Festival featured more than 60 persons demonstrating basket-making, woodworking, wood carving, pottery, blacksmithing and tinsmithing, doll-making, and foodways. A special focus was on textile traditions, with large contingents demonstrating diverse approaches to processing cotton and wool, needlework, and quilt-making.
Participants:
Maurice Alexander, Lummi, totem poles, Washington
Elizabeth Bass, 1906-1991, wool carder, Missouri
Kay Bates, cotton weaver, spinner (treadle wheel) and carder, Louisiana
Herman Benton, 1914-1994, grain scoop maker, New York
Joe Washington and family, Lummi, net making and setting, Washington
Florence Watson, Navajo, wool weaver, spinner, carder, New Mexico
Ora Watson, 1909-2004, quilter, North Carolina
Rosa Lee Watson, quilter, Deep Gap, North Carolina
Willard Watson, 1905-1994, toys, Deep Gap, North Carolina
Mrs. Hobart Whitson, quilter, Burnsville, North Carolina
Connard Wolfe, 1933-, stone and wood carvings, West Virginia
Collection Restrictions:
Access by appointment only. Where a listening copy or viewing copy has been created, this is indicated in the respective inventory; additional materials may be accessible with sufficient advance notice and, in some cases, payment of a processing fee. Older papers are housed at a remote location and may require a minimum of three weeks' advance notice and payment of a retrieval fee. Certain formats such as multi-track audio recordings and EIAJ-1 videoreels (1/2 inch) may not be accessible. Contact the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections at 202-633-7322 or rinzlerarchives@si.edu for additional information.
Collection Rights:
Copyright and other restrictions may apply. Generally, materials created during a Festival are covered by a release signed by each participant permitting their use for personal and educational purposes; materials created as part of the fieldwork leading to a Festival may be more restricted. We permit and encourage such personal and educational use of those materials provided digitally here, without special permissions. Use of any materials for publication, commercial use, or distribution requires a license from the Archives. Licensing fees may apply in addition to any processing fees.
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: 1968 Festival of American Folklife, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections , Smithsonian Institution.
Cultural Conservation: Traditional Crafts in a Post-Industrial Age
Collection Creator:
Smithsonian Institution. Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Introduction:
Second in a series, the 1986 Cultural Conservation program presented a variety of craftspeople who singly and together define what is traditional about their crafts, how these are practiced in our country today, and why they are worth preserving for the future. These crafts, in a sense, record the resonances between a craftsperson's skill and the aesthetics of a particular tradition. Traditional crafts also record the craftsperson's use of the local environment and his or her negotiation with a sometimes changing market. It is these layerings of meaning and tone that define the communal base of folk crafts, and Festival visitors were able to interact directly with the featured craft presenters and to listen in on comparative workshops addressing shared challenges. Craft presentations including African American quilting, Cherokee basket making, Hispanic weavers and woodcarvers, Hmong needle workers, rag rug weavers, southern potters, split-oak basket makers, stone carvers, and Zuni maiden makers and potters.
Marjorie Hunt served as Cultural Conservation Program Curator, and Ann Dancy as Assistant Program Coordinator. An Advisory Board included Charles Briggs, Charley Camp, Henry Glassie, Bess Lomax Hawes, Alan Jabbour, Suzi Jones, Ralph Rinzler, William Sturtevant, Robert Teske, John Vlach.
Cultural Conservation: Traditional Crafts in a Post-Industrial Age was made possible in part by the generous support of the Laborers' International Union of North America and the National Italian-American Foundation, in memory of Andrew E. Bernasconi.
Consultants and fieldworkers:
Consultants
Rayna Green, Robert Hart, Myles Libhart, Leslie Prosterman, Geoff Staman, Nancy Sweezy, Terry Zug
Fieldworkers
Jane Beck, Carole Boughter, Charles Briggs, David Brose, Charley Camp, Doug DeNatale, Roland Freeman, Margaret Hardin, Marjorie Hunt, Geraldine Johnson, Phyllis M. May, Sally Peterson, Jim Ustler
Presenters:
Jane Beck, Charles Briggs, Carole Boughter, David Brose, Olivia Cadaval, Charley Camp, Doug DeNatale, Betty DuPree, Etta Edwards, Gladys-Marie Fry, Rayna Green, Geraldine Johnson, Alice Killackey, Helen Lucero, Phyllis M. May, Sally Peterson, Gregory Sharrow, John Vlach
Delores Marie Medina, 1966-, Hispanic weaver, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Norma Medina, 1941-, Hispanic weaver, Medanales, New Mexico
Josephine Nahohai, 1911-2006, Zuni potter, Zuni, New Mexico
Milford Nahohai, 1953-, Zuni potter, Zuni, New Mexico
Randy Nahohai, 1957-, Zuni potter, Zuni, New Mexico
Neolia Cole Perkinson, 1927-, Southern potter, Sanford, North Carolina
Anderson Peynetsa, 1964-, Zuni potter, Zuni, New Mexico
Felix Rubio, stone carver, Barre, Vermont
Gary Sassi, stone carver, Barre, Vermont
Gino John Sassi, 1922-1997, stone carver, Barre, Vermont
Mary L. Scarbrough, 1918-2008, Afro-American quilter, Eutaw, Alabama
Thelma Sheche, Olla Maiden, Zuni, New Mexico
Mitchell Shelton, 1951-, Southern potter, Seagrove, North Carolina
Pang Xiong Sirirathasuk, 1944-, Hmong needle worker, Upper Darby, Pennsylvania
Emma S. Taylor, 1920-2002, Cherokee basket maker, Cherokee, North Carolina
Mai Vong Xiong, 1967-, Hmong needle worker, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Xai Kao Xiong, 1912-1994, Hmong elder, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Bao Yang, 1930-, Hmong needle worker, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Collection Restrictions:
Access by appointment only. Where a listening copy or viewing copy has been created, this is indicated in the respective inventory; additional materials may be accessible with sufficient advance notice and, in some cases, payment of a processing fee. Older papers are housed at a remote location and may require a minimum of three weeks' advance notice and payment of a retrieval fee. Certain formats such as multi-track audio recordings and EIAJ-1 videoreels (1/2 inch) may not be accessible. Contact the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections at 202-633-7322 or rinzlerarchives@si.edu for additional information.
Collection Rights:
Copyright and other restrictions may apply. Generally, materials created during a Festival are covered by a release signed by each participant permitting their use for personal and educational purposes; materials created as part of the fieldwork leading to a Festival may be more restricted. We permit and encourage such personal and educational use of those materials provided digitally here, without special permissions. Use of any materials for publication, commercial use, or distribution requires a license from the Archives. Licensing fees may apply in addition to any processing fees.
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: 1986 Festival of American Folklife, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution.
