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About Miss Eva Wright
Eva Wright
learned sweetgrass basket weaving from her grandmother when
she was just a young girl of seven growing up in Mt. Pleasant, SC.
She has been
featured as a sweetgrass basket artisan on SCETV, written
about in local and national papers, books and magazines. She has been
to trade shows and art shows all over America and even in Europe to
demonstrate, share and teach her craft. She has been involved over the
years with the SC Artisan Center in Walterboro, SC where she has taught
young boys and girls her art. She has been a featured speaker, and
honoree at the SC Museum of History.
As for the
origin of the sweetgrass basket: In the
lowcountry of South Carolina and Georgia, where sweetgrass grows and
was picked up by slaves, sweetgrass began to be woven into baskets. The
African tradition fast became a lowcountry (Geechi) hallmark. While
sweetgrass and varieties used in basketmaking are becoming scarce with
a waning interest of new generations learning the craft, some have
feared that sweetgrass basket making could be a dying art.
As some pass the
time with worry, Miss Eva weaves another piece of
history as she works beneath the Angel Oak Tree on John's Island, SC.
If you plan to drive out and see her on days she's there, better plan
to pull up a chair and stay awhile. As she speaks about her life, one
cannot help but to find themselves woven into a mosaic web of her wisdom on life
lessons, culture, love and history. As she speaks and weaves, you will
soon understand how we are all woven together in a mosaic web, like the
single strands of sweetgrass that begin to emerge as her timeless art.
Click here
for a video clip of Eva Wright at work beneath
the historic Angel Oak tree On nearby John's Island, SC
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