Princeton artist’s creation is on view at Graceland.
By: Jeff Milgram
Baskets can be small or big, simple or complex. Some baskets are meant to hold something, others are just meant to look good.
And now, thanks to Princeton basket-maker Helen Schwartz, they can shake, rattle and roll.
Yes, all you fans of "The King of Rock ‘n’ Roll " one of Ms. Schwartz’s works, "Basket Full of Elvis," went on display in Graceland, the Elvis Presley house and museum in Memphis, Tenn., Thursday and will remain on display through this Thursday.
The basket, which is made up of images from Elvis’s life on strips of archival paper covered with polyurethane, is part of an exhibition organized to celebrate the 18th annual Elvis Week.
The day after the exhibition closes will be the 25th anniversary of Elvis Presley’s death on Aug. 16, 1977.
The funny thing is, Ms. Schwartz is no diehard Elvis fan. Instead of listening to "Hound Dog," "Love Me Tender" and "Blue Suede Shoes," Ms. Schwartz was raising two children in Princeton Junction.
She was more interested in the exhibition of Elvis-related art, however, than in the cultural icon himself. And so, she bought a book on Elvis, scanned the black and white images on acid-free paper which is supposed to last 200 years, cut them into strips and wove the strips into a basket.
"It really excited me," Ms. Schwartz said. "Working with the paper really excited me."
She made a small Elvis basket and submitted a larger one. The larger basket was accepted.
The good thing about baskets, Ms. Schwartz said, is that you can make them anyplace in the house. There are still traces of Elvis strips around the house she shares with her husband, Bill Gregory. She also made an Elvis collage
Ms. Schwartz grew up in Manhattan, the daughter of two people she believed had little or no aptitude for art an interior decorator and a garment worker. During a trip to the Guggenheim Museum, her mother confessed she had loved to draw when she was a child.
Ms. Schwartz was always interested in art.
"I started out as a painter," Ms. Schwartz said. "Then I discovered printmaking."
Her work is included in a host of the collections: The New Jersey State Museum, Princeton University’s Graphic Arts Collection, The Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Museum in New Brunswick, The Schlessinger Library at Harvard University, the American Embassy in Japan and the Mercer County Cultural and Heritage Commission.
She has taught art at Rider College, the Princeton Adult School and the Princeton Art Association.
Then she took a break from art and wrote a book on New Jersey architecture.
"I thought the world did not need any more art from me," Ms. Schwartz said.
She had been the art critic for Town Topics and went to The Home News in New Brunswick as an arts writer.
"When I started to write for newspapers, it was the same thing as baskets I loved it."
When The Home News was put up for sale in the late 1980s, Ms. Schwartz decided it was time to leave. She left the newspaper world and got a job doing public relations for the Princeton University Art Museum.
But, after a while, she got restless. "I can’t sit still," Ms. Schwartz said. ‘I don’t like to do one thing. I want to do everything."
And, as luck has it, basket-making became the next stage in Ms. Schwartz evolution as an artist.
"I was trying to decide which adult-school course to take and it was either music appreciation … or basket-making. I checked off basket-making," she said. "I’ve never done anything in my life that makes me so happy."
She has gone through the gamut of different styles, from palm-sized waxed linen baskets to large Nantucket baskets. She uses any material, from reeds to speaker wire to deer antlers (these she makes for herself, because it is illegal in New Jersey to sell anything made with deer antlers).
Making a basket can take as little as a few hours to as much as one or two weeks. Some basket-makers use patterns. Not Ms. Schwartz. To her, "basket-making is a folk art," not a craft.
"I don’t measure anything and no two baskets are alike," she said. "My baskets tell me what to do. Everything grows out of itself and my response to it."
While a basket looks unbelievably difficult to someone who has never done it, the tools that are needed are relatively commonplace screwdrivers, scissors, awls and knives. The most exotic tool is a medical hemostat, a clamp-like instrument.
The materials are worked while they are wet, when they are more flexible. After air-drying, they are coated. Ms. Schwartz likes to use tea and coffee to stain her baskets. She gets her materials by mail order.
The photo baskets are an original invention. The paper is glued to itself, or layered and then covered with clear polyurethane.
Ms. Schwartz’s paper baskets show a progressive refinement. Her next project will be baskets made from strips of photos of her own three grandchildren. She then will do grandparent baskets on commission.
If you can’t get to Graceland and want to see some of Ms. Schwartz’s baskets, check out Lost and Found Gallery in Princeton or Ty and Kiyoko Heineken’s Studio Japan in Kingston (Oct. 5-27).