National Basketry Organization Inc

The National Basketry Organization is an inclusive organization.  

NBO connects people throughout the country creating a community of people interested in basketry. As an organization, NBO has a variety of publications, maintains a website, creates and sponsors exhibitions and promotes educational opportunities including having a biennial conference.

Our members make baskets ranging from the very functional and traditional to sculptural pieces that stretch the definition of basket.  They work with willow, bark, reed, metal, paper, waxed linen thread and other natural and found materials. They coil, twine, plait, stitch, weave, knot and loop. In short, our members represent the diversity and dynamism of contemporary American basketry.

Some of our members don't make baskets at all. They are collectors, museum curators and gallery owners.

Some of our members are professional artists and craftspeople for whom basket making is a source of income. For many others, basketry is a source of pleasure and satisfaction.  

In order to support our members and promote basketry, NBO has a number of projects and initiatives:

 

• A glossy quarterly magazine featuring profiles of individual basketmakers.
• A website with links to local and regional guilds, a section of featured artists with links to their personal websites, a calendar listing workshops, exhibitions and calls to entry.
• A monthly electronic newsletter with calendar listings and news about members and NBO.
• A presence on social media platforms including a Facebook page to post information on events and members.
• A scholarship fund and a mentoring program.
• A biennial juried exhibition.
• A biennial conference featuring workshops with master basket makers and fiber artists.
• NBO has two major exhibitions in the planning stages:
• Rooted, Revived and Reinvented: American Basketry which will trace the history and evolution of basketry in America.
• An unnamed exhibition on the status of plant material used in basketry including threats to those materials and the efforts underway to preserve and restore them.