Basket Symposium and Exhibit Coming to MCTA This Weekend

Mountain City Traditional Arts and the Center for Research in Basketry, Inc. (CRB) will host a symposium and exhibit on the art and craft of Garrett County basket maker James McCrobie, Sr., on Saturday, April 5, from 1 to 3 p.m. at MCTA at 25 E. Main St. in Frostburg. The symposium will launch an exhibit of McCrobie baskets, which will continue through April 11. Come hear treasured McCrobie family stories highlighting a basket maker and his family who made and sold baskets to support themselves during the Depression.

The event is the result of research by Dr. Kathleen Beauchesne of CRB and FSU “Folklore in Appalachia” students who identified and recorded basket craftsmanship throughout Western Maryland and the entire state. Dr. Kara Rogers Thomas, an associate professor in the Department of Sociology at FSU, and Beauchesne will speak about the work of these FSU students and the research done for the basketry project, Woven Traditions: Maryland Basket Making Culture and Communities, Past and Present. Symposium speakers will also include Dr. Charles Camp, who interviewed McCrobie and his family during the 1970s for the Smithsonian; McCrobie’s son, the last of six generations of basket makers; and Richard Yoder, curator of the Springs Museum in Springs, Pa., and McCrobie basket collector.

The symposium and exhibit are supported in part by the Maryland Traditions Program of the Maryland State Arts Council and the Appalachian Regional Commission’s Teaching Project.

MCTA is a program of FSU dedicated to the education, sales, documentation and perpetuation of the traditional arts in Mountain Maryland.

For more information, contact Beauchesne at 410-967-3585 or kobeauchesne@basketresearch.org, or call MCTA at 301-687-8040.

FSU is committed to making all of its programs, services and activities accessible to persons with disabilities. To request accommodations through the ADA Compliance Office, call 301-687-4102 or use a Voice Relay Operator at 1-800-735-2258.