It was always so amazing to me to see my mother make incredibly beautiful baskets from materials gathered from the wild. Learning all of the basic techniques and traditional designs from her took years of practice and determination. When I had mastered the traditional forms, I became bored. I felt that I had to do something new. I wanted to make my own special contribution to the art, so I started designing contemporary forms that had never been done in this tradition before.

The transformation of age-old shapes has emerged into a more challenging dimension and I am now celebrating a new and calm body of work. The technique is the same; the material is the same as in the traditional baskets; it’s just stretching the tradition to the limit of an art form.

I’ve always believed that whatever’s worth doing is worth doing well. My goal is constantly to produce simple, yet unique and finely detailed sculpture in which the patterns and symmetry compliment each other.

Strong feelings and deep emotions are involved in making my baskets, so it is always exciting to make a new idea reality. Particular attention to form and function is of utmost importance, because my tradition has always emphasized a beautiful basket to be used for everyday living. It is my commitment to my ancestors to work within this context.