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Illustration: Terrol Dew Johnson. Form Over Function #1. Terrol Dew Johnson started basketry weaving at the age of ten. He soon learned that he was a born natural and found that it was one of the few things in life that he found intrinsically effortless. Johnson is a member of the Tohono O'odham nation of southern Arizona. The Tohono O'odham have a long history of basket weaving using a whole variety of techniques using natural materials and dyes. These are all used in order to tie the basketry in with the local landscape colours and flora, making the baskets part of the community and of the larger landscape. Illustration: Terrol Dew Johnson. The traditional basketry weaving techniques that Johnson learnt at such an early age, have allowed him to expand into the world of contemporary fine art basketry, while still keeping hold of his traditions, which he uses as a foundation or anchor point for his subsequent career as an artist. Johnson has definitely turned the craft skill ...

Illustration: Deborah Lacativa. Clubbin , 2007. Illustration: Deborah Lacativa. Clubbin (close up), 2007. I was actually looking for work by another artist altogether today, when I came across the intriguing work of Deborah Lacativa. I have become an instant fan and therefore decided to write a post dedicated to her instead of the original artist that I had been looking for. Lacativa is an American artist from Georgia (the state not the country). She deals very much in the genre of textile art, using dye discharge techniques, along with free form stitching, to produce pieces of art work that are really not meant for anything but display purposes. This is not a criticism, as I personally believe that textile art deserves a place in the fine art pantheon. Unfortunately, it is very often either dismissed altogether by those with a vested interest in the narrow confines of the fine art definition, or placed within the large undefined world of craft. Illustration: Deborah Lacativa. Koda...