Polly Sutton
Workshop: Forms of Cedar
Dates: March 8-14th, 2027
About Polly
Polly Adams Sutton is a full time artist, working with cedar bark and wire to create sculptural baskets. Her educational background was art with an emphasis on painting. Settling in the Pacific Northwest in 1979, she discovered basketry through the local weavers guild. It has been her practicing art ever since. Teaching the art of basketry has been an integral part of her life.
Sutton was awarded a City of Seattle artist project grant in 2012 to experiment with invasive vines in her work and received an Artist Trust GAP grant in 2012 for travel to Sardegna to study the vast basketry history there. Her nine piece installation was acquired by the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum for the exhibition “This Present Moment: Crafting a Better World” in Washington, DC in 2023 and again in “State Fairs” in 2025-26.
Most recently she was shortlisted for the 2024 Loewe Craft Prize in Paris.
Workshop Details
Experience cedar twining techniques while exploring asymmetry as well as symmetrical shapes. Western red cedar bark, magnet wire, dyed binder cane and ash will be employed to experiment with small sculptural shapes.
To begin, weavers will learn the easy X technique on a mini cedar basket. To follow, basic twining around cedar spokes will allow students to play with an undulating shape. The finale will be experimenting with two methods of wire X’s and slowly building a small sculptural shape. If time allows any of these basket forms may be repeated.
Materials Fee: $160 base fee for materials for three projects. Students can choose to make additional baskets with additional materials costs to be determined at the workshop. Materials fee will be paid directly to the instructor at the workshop.
Tools/supplies the student should bring: Squirt bottle, packing tool, old small towel, basket shears, small tapestry needle
Student Level: All Levels
Overnight Packages
5-Day, 6-Nights Overnight Package Includes: 6 nights onsite lodging, private chef prepared meals (breakfast, lunch and dinner) and 5 days of instruction in a private venue.
Meals and Lodging: $ 1,172 per person private room, $757 per person shared room
Tuition/Fees $950
Non-refundable deposit of $250 due to hold workshop space. The remaining balance is due 90 days prior to workshop start date.