Baskets

Ohio History

Basket Display

Dolls are not the only special exhibit I have visited at the National Afro American Museum. My family returned to the museum a year later to see a special display of quilts. On our way in, we stopped to admire this beautiful basket collection. There were baskets of all shapes, sizes, and colors - certainly serving artistic purposes as well as practical. A sign explained how some baskets were woven, such as the ones on the left-hand side with a square checkerboard appearance. Others were coil baskets, made from concentric circles of material fastened together. The purple-accented baskets at the top right are examples of coil baskets. I was amazed to see the varied purposes of the baskets, ranging from gathering and storage to table ornamentation. It would certainly be fascinating to watch the process of making one of these baskets!