artist list

Sweetgrass wall hanging commissioned

Artist Biography:

Granddaughter of the renown flower lady and basket maker Maggie Mazyck, Sue Middleton grew up in Mt. Pleasant and has made sweetgrass baskets all her life. She sells her work three days a week in the Charleston market and each September at the Atalaya Arts & Crafts Fesitival at Huntington State Beach Park. Middleton's baskets are found in the collections of the Atlanta History Center and McKissick Museum at the University of South Carolina and will be featured in the upcoming exhibition "Grass Roots: Baskets of Two Continents."

Sue Middleton

Mt. Pleasant

About the Work:

The art of basket making was brought to South Carolina by slaves who came from West Africa more than 300 years ago. For generations the art has been passed down from mother to daughter to granddaughter. During the days of slavery in the Old South, men made large work baskets from bulrush because this marsh grass was strong and durable. Women made functional baskets for the home using sweetgrass, which was softer and abundant. Today's baskets are made with sweetgrass, bulrush, and long leaf pine needles bound together by strips of the unopened center leaves of palmetto trees.

The construction of the Cooper River Bridge in 1929 and the paving of Highway 17 made the route through Mount Pleasant a major north-south artery. Basketmakers started marketing their wares from roadside basket stands. These stands still exist today. Sweetgrass baskets are collected by museums and art collectors across the world.

Mary Alice Monroe