7jb What’s Happening, James Bassler, four-selvaged construction, with shibori star field; warp and weft are a mix of linen, silk, nettles, and cotton, with synthetic dyes, 46" x 49", 2016, $Sold
5jb Donald and His Hapsburg Empire, James Bassler, wedge weave construction; indigo-dyed linen warp; linen, handspun silk from Mexico, spun duck feathers from Mexico, commercial silk weft, 35" x 17", 2106, $12,000.
made of brown paper Trader Joe’s shopping bags, cut and twisted and with yellow and red waxed linen thread
16” X 10” , 2009, $8,000
3jb Cumbe, James Bassler, linen, balance plain weave; discontinuous warp, synthetic and natural dye (indigo)
40.5” X 40.5” including natural color linen binding around entire perimeter, 2009
signed back lower left, $12,000
Selected collections and exhibitions venues:
The Textile Museum, The George Washington University Museum, Washington, D.C. (The Box Project: Uncommon Threads, permanent collection; Sourcing the Museum, Curated by Jack Lenor Larsen); Pasadena Art Museum, California; Denver Art Museum, Colorado; Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, NJ; US Embassy, Poland (solo exhibition); Museum of Contemporary Crafts, New York, NY; The Lowe Museum of Art, Miami, Florida; American Craft Museum, New York, NY (Craft Today: The Poetry of the Physical, traveling exhibition, permanent collection); North Dakota Museum of Art, Grand Forks, ND (Frontiers in Fiber/The Americas, traveling exhibition, permanent collection); Art Institute of Chicago, IL (permanent collection); Oakland Museum, California (permanent collection); Central Museum of Textiles, Lodz, Poland (7th International Triennial of Tapestry); Museum of Kyoto, Japan (4th International Textile Competition); Cleveland Art Museum (permanent collection); The Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minnesota (permanent collection); LongHouse Reserve, New York, NY (permanent collection). Recipient: National Endowment of the Arts Grant; Fellow: American Craft Council.
Statement:
I was introduced to the textile traditions at a very early age.
I entered UCLA in the early 1950s. In 1953, I was drafted
into the U.S. Army with a tour of duty in Europe, followed
by a civilian job in England. In 1960, I returned home via
a cargo ship to China and Japan. It was on this journey
that I witnessed the importance of world crafts, and their
essential role in cultures.
Since 1980, my work has conversed with the wedge-weave
structure of the Navajo, the shibori and scaffold
weave of pre-Columbian cultures.
For over 30 years I taught at UCLA, in the departments
of Art/Design/Art History, and in World Arts and Cultures.
For 12 of those years I taught textile history at the UCLA
Fowler Museum.
Perhaps my studio work will inspire some to become a
part of this noble craft, which can include a life that does
not have to be loud or fast or annoying.
