61nmb PEBBLES IN A STREAM cane, bamboo, waxed cotton, linen, and acrylic 7" x 43" x 8", 2005-6 $12,000

Selected permanent collections and exhibition venues: Museum of Arts and Design, New York, New York; Racine Art Museum, Wisconsin; Erie Art Museum, Pennsylvania (The Tactile Vessel – traveling exhibition); Barbican Centre, London, England (Threads: Contemporary American Basketry); Meguro Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan; Szombathely Art Museum, Hungary (12th International Biennial of Miniature Textiles); Nagoya, Japan (Textiles: 4th International Textile Competition); Ohio Craft Museum, Columbus, Ohio; University of Hawaii Art Gallery, Honolulu (7th International Shoebox Sculpture Exhibition); Arizona State University Art Museum, Tempe; Long Beach Museum of Art, California; Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco, California; National Crafts Council of Ireland, Kilkenny (Fiber: A New World View). Author: Bamboo in Japan.

60nmb ANIMISTIC SPIRIT (the supernatural in Japan) waxed cotton, persimmon tannin, acrylic paint 9” x 20” x 7”, 2005 $6,400

Statement: For me there are several 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 in 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. Had I not traveled extensively in Japan, my basketry would not be what it is today; I would not have benefited from my months in Honolulu, I would not have been invited to India; I would not have written the book; I would not know what I know nor sought what I seek. What an interesting life it is turning out to be.                                                                                                                    Nancy Moore Bess
	70nmb FROM DIALGUE TO MONOLOGUE, waxed cotton & linen, Chinese incesnce box lid, 6" x 5.5" x 5.5", 2007, $1,000

Book #B16 Bamboo in Japan click for more information

Video #Vc01o Contemporary American Fiber Artists: TEN MAKERS click for more information