Artigianati.com

by Claire Stuart

basketmaker Anne Bowers

“I grew up doing needlework—sewing, needlepoint, crewel embroidery,” says basketmaker Anne Bowers. “I was always doing crafts.”

Bowers has lived in the Panhandle all of her life, growing up in Shepherdstown, and later living in Martinsburg, then moving back to Jefferson County when she married.

Her airy studio in her old farmhouse in Middleway is filled with basketry material and baskets in all sizes, shapes, and colors. Some have the expected shapes of Easter baskets and market baskets, while others are intricately fashioned in the shape of seashells. Tiny, delicate baskets are nearly as small as thimbles.

Bowers’ initiation to basketry came about 28 years ago when she worked in a Shepherdstown shop called The Needle Shop, and the owner decided to put in basketry supplies.

“I didn’t think they would sell,” Bowers recalled, “because I didn’t like the feel of the material on my hands. Then I made my first basket, and I loved it!”...

Read more at -  http://www.wvobserver.com/2010/03/basket-maker-anne-bowers/