Anna King in Japan

A solo exhibition of new baskets by Anna King took place in Tokyo during April 2006.   She was invited to put on the exhibition as a result of her participation in ‘Contained Spaces’, an exhibition of contemporary basketmaking by four makers from Botswana, India, Japan and Scotland held in 2004.  Funded by the Scottish Arts Council, the exhibition visited the home countries of the four makers and each of the exhibitors then gave demonstrations and shared techniques. 

Talking about her experiences in Japan, Anna said 'Their way of using materials is very different to ours, they go out and gather stuff in the wild and just use it, tending to take a material and push it to its limitations.' Since her visit there have been at least two exhibitions of work using the different methods she showed them, which were mainly coiling techniques and the use of pine needles as a material.

The baskets in her new exhibition are very removed from her previous baskets and a group of them were directly inspired by her first visit to Japan.  Photographs, places she visited, found items from beaches and oriental beliefs have all influenced her new work in which she has started to cover part of the surface of the basket.  Anna explains 'Some of the baskets are completely covered – enclosing, folding, protecting and sometimes hiding.'

‘Midnight Crying Fountain’ is a response to a spring in the grounds of a shrine where the water was said to cure children that cried in the night.  This small basket formed from cotton, silk and acetate is the colour of tears.

Some of the baskets, such as ‘Nightbird’ contain tiny little books with stories and poems in them.  Describing this delicate little basket made from nylon cord, acetate, feathers, moss, corn-husk and bird skull Anna says “It’s very tactile and soft but has the strength of a bird underneath it.” 

The poem inside reads:

COLOURS  - of sunrise, east coast Khaki Indigo Thunder Large herring-bone check                           sliding into                           Siena red                           Graphite                           Pale ochre-lemon                           Stripes                                      shifting subtly                                                      Dark lavender                                                      Slate                                                      Duck-egg                                                       Fine satin lines                                                                        Then awash with                                                                                            Smoke                                                                                            Rose                                                                                            Peach-lemon                                                                                            Ice-blue And the night birds fly home to roost

The photograph of ‘Nightbird’, along with ‘Smoking’, has been selected for inclusion in the book ‘500 Baskets’, featuring baskets by makers from across the world, being produced by Lark Books.

‘Smoking’ is created from black pine needles, waxed cotton and stone, and its name was inspired by the way it reminded Anna of smoke on a very still day, going up and barely moving.

The first basket she made after visiting Japan, and the first one she totally covered, was ‘Utterly Buttoned’ made with sisal, linen, paper string, reindeer hair and with approximately 700 hand stitched buttons, a material she loves to use because of the noise and feel of them.

The exhibition of 36 baskets by Anna King took place at the Silver Shell Gallery in Tokyo from 12 to 27 April 2006. 

A retrospective of work by Anna King – textiles, constructed textiles, paper and baskets – will be held in 2007 at the Royal Museum in Edinburgh.