Cherokee Pine Needle & Cedar Burl Basket by Marilyn Toglin McDanel (Cherokee) - SOLD

With its graceful shape, exceptionally tight weave, Alaskan cedar burl base and scrimshawed buffalo bone beads, this ponderosa pine needle basket by Marilyn McDanel is a very unique creation. The sides of this shallow bowl conform to the natural shape of the cedar burl, curving outwards.

Marilyn's Cherokee family moved from Oklahoma to California during the Dust Bowl.  She felt a calling to art from a young age, but it was not until 2003 that she finally found her preferred medium -- baskets woven out of needles from the ponderosa pines that grow in the foothills of the Sierras where she lives. She taught herself how to weave, first making baskets using designs created by others to learn the techniques.  After those first few baskets, Marilyn began to experiment using different weaving techniques, incorporating burl slab bases or weaving beads, shells and bones in with the pine needles. Speaking of her baskets, she says, “Each basket I now create is from my heart and is my own original design.”

Length 13", width 8", depth 2"