Carol Crotts begins her masterfully woven baskets with a walk in the woods, where she scours the ground to discover just the right pine needles and other found objects from nature’s bounty to use in her creations.
Crotts employs the same materials and techniques used throughout the centuries by Native Americans to fashion beautiful yet functional works of art. She displays her work at galleries, shops and festivals, and regularly gives classes and workshops on the technique at Harbor City Art in Melbourne’s Eau Gallie Arts District.
“I often tell buyers that they can be used for bread baskets, catchalls, ring catchers and more. The pine needle pieces are quite indestructible,” Crotts explains.
She says people often question whether her work is considered an artform or a craft, given that many pieces are usable, but many also view the eye-catching pieces as worthy of display in the home.
Crotts says she gathers long pine needles with a rake from wherever she can find them.
Unfortunately, Longleaf Pines are not as prevalent as Slash Pines, which grow abundantly in clusters around Florida, so that is the first challenge.
“On the downside, some places where I find the needles are mowed regularly, so that destroys them. I’ve been finding most of my needles from a trailer park in Melbourne for the past 15 years and several weeks ago I went there and a construction crew had plowed down all my trees to make room for a new building. I wasn’t a happy camper,” says Crotts, who continues the search for perfect specimens.
Once harvested, she chooses the best needles and cleans them in boiling water, “cooking” them, to make them more pliable. Additionally, the caps on the ends must be removed, a laborious task, before the fun can begin.
“That fresh pine smell is released when doing this,” she says cheerfully.
She explains that she used to dye the pine needles but eventually stopped that practice as the natural brown needles don’t fade out.
She has also amassed hundreds of items that can be used for the bottom centerpieces of the baskets, such as pottery, jewelry, gourds, resin pieces and assorted natural items, such as shells, antlers and feathers.
“I first look for what inspires me for the next basket. After the basket is made – over the next three to 21 days depending on the size – and stitched, it dries for at least 24 hours and then a coat of polyurethane is put on it,” Crotts explains.
“The stitches must be tight because when the needles dry, they can become loosey-goosey. I check for any prickly ends and add my signature to the basket.”
When instructing students, she teaches them to start with their stitches evenly placed, advising that as baskets get bigger, any misaligned stitches become more pronounced.
“And they’re not called needles for nothing; they will draw blood,” she cautions.
The expertly woven pine needles, with their natural color and unique designs, make them immediately recognizable as her creations.
Crotts says she leaves her work untitled, which she feels helps to expand the viewer’s interpretation for its use.
A native Floridian, Crotts started her artistic career as a teenager, creating 3-D greeting cards and throwing clay on a pottery wheel. Today her repertoire includes creating pottery pieces, acrylic pour paintings, and wood burning on gourds.
She recently started crafting resin pieces and has also studied watercolor painting, jewelry making, glass mosaics and fused glass. She often uses some of those works in her exceptional baskets and, as a result, no two pieces are exactly alike.
“I started my work with needles about 15 years ago after taking a weaving class. I took off and have not gone more than a couple days without working on a basket for all those years,” says Crotts.
“I returned to the same teacher a year later for an advanced class and she looked at all I had done and she said there was nothing else she could teach me.”
Crotts began creating baskets some 10 years before retiring from a 44-year nursing career at Health First. And, although nursing might not necessarily have been the springboard for her art, she says weaving requires the same sort of patience and attention as nursing.
“A dear friend of mine, Rhonda Hasner from Health First who I worked with, also does artistic weaving. We met in pottery class and after I learned pine needle basketing, she wanted to learn too. Her work has a different style than mine and Rhonda is as much of a perfectionist as I am. She and I founded Pine Away Baskets 15 years ago.”
In 2012, when Crotts and Hasner first started the show circuit, they won Best of Show at the Lake Eola Art Show in the spring and Second Place in Fiber at Lake Eola that fall. They have continued to win awards at other Central Florida art shows.
Crotts says they regularly enter and earn awards in the art show at Native Rhythms, a flute festival at Wickham Park and adds that their exhibit schedule is on Facebook under Pine Away Baskets.
“My biggest satisfaction and reward are using my God given talents to make unique gifts for people. The baskets have gone all over the world through tourists visiting the area, as thank you gifts or a souvenir from Florida,” says Crotts with pride.
Photos by Joshua Kodis
