Book excerpt: "This book illustrates and discusses a wide variety of baskets, from those in museum collections to those commonly used today. Work from all over the world is included. Ceremonial baskets which support lavish facades of feathers and shells appear alongside humble work baskets and those made quickly to satisfy a moment's need. Traditional methods of converting plant materials into baskets are described. Contructions are pictured and their special qualities examined. As a hand process that has never been mechanized, basketmaking continues virtually unchanged from what it was thousands of years ago. Having survived without fundamental modification or improvement basketry retains--and demonstrates clearly--basic characteristics of textiles; it provides a sort of touchstone of textile values. Baskets have never lost their identity as constructions of fiber; their modular nature has always been easily perceptible, their patterns continually show their development from intersecting linear elements. Today baskets are being looked at as 'fiber sculpture'. Yet they are no different now than they have always been. The world has changed around them, so that baskets are perceived differently. 'Baskets as Textile Art' is concerned with a contemporary response to this ancient technology"--Publisher's description, p. [2] of dust jacket.