Oral history interview with Billie Ruth Sudduth
odd: label: General
content: Originally recorded on 3 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 15 digital wav files. Duration is 4 hr., 42 min.
name: label: Interviewee
content: Sudduth, Billie Ruth
label: Interviewer
content: Riedel, Mija, 1958-
label: Names
content: Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts -- Faculty
label: Names
content: Huntingdon College (Montgomery, Ala.) -- Students
label: Names
content: John Campbell Folk School -- Faculty
label: Names
content: Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America
label: Names
content: Penland School of Crafts -- Faculty
label: Names
content: Smithsonian Craft Show
label: Names
content: University of Alabama -- Students
label: Names
content: Bringle, Cynthia, 1939-
label: Names
content: Gingrass, Katie
label: Names
content: Risatti, Howard, 1943-
label: Names
content: Ross, Caroline Sedestrom
label: Names
content: Trapp, Kenneth R.
topic: label: Occupation
content: Psychologists -- North Carolina
label: Occupation
content: Social workers -- North Carolina
label: Topic
content: Basket makers -- North Carolina -- Interviews
label: Topic
content: Basket making
label: Topic
content: Decorative arts
label: Topic
content: Women artists
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
creator: label: Interviewee
content: Sudduth, Billie Ruth
label: Interviewer
content: Riedel, Mija, 1958-
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Billie Ruth Sudduth is a basketmaker from Bakersville, North Carolina. Mija Riedel (1958- ) is a curator and writer from San Francisco, California.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 3 Sound discs (Sound recording (4 hr., 42 min.), digital, 2 5/8 in.)
label: Extent
content: 81 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 2007 July 26-27
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.suddut07
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Sound discs
label: Type
content: Pages
label: Type
content: Interviews
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: An interview of Billie Ruth Sudduth conducted 2007 July 26-27, by Mija Riedel, for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, at the artist's home and studio, in Bakersville, North Carolina.
label: Scope and Contents
content: Sudduth speaks of her childhood in Alabama; her adoptive family; growing up in a creative and musical environment; an early exposure to women working with their hands; buying a Cherokee basket at age 12; childhood piano lessons and later exploring rhythm in her baskets; attending Huntingdon College; a strained relationship with her mother; meeting her biological family; attending the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa and earning a Master's degree in social work; working as a social worker and psychologist for over 20 years; balancing a career with family; taking a basket-making class in an effort to relax and do something for herself; making baskets in spare time and teaching herself new techniques; her family's move to Las Vegas, Nevada; teaching basket-making classes to adults; developing Math in a Basket curriculum; an interest in Fibonacci and the inclusion of its ratio in her baskets; an interest in color and natural dyes; returning to North Carolina and focusing full time on basket making; receiving a North Carolina Arts Council Emerging Artists grant to photo-document her body of work; becoming interested in chaos theory and its application to her basketry; the popularity and success of Math in a Basket; teaching experiences at Penland School of Crafts, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, and John Campbell Folk School; receiving a North Carolina Arts Council Visual Artist grant to study Cherokee, Choctaw, and other Native American tribes' basketry; her extensive basket collection; the honor of being named a North Carolina Living Treasure; participating in juried shows, including exhibiting at the Smithsonian Craft Show for 12 years and the Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show for seven years; the evolution of her workspace and studio; making the Carolina snowflake, which was exhibited at the White House; her exhibition history; an increasing respect for and recognition of baskets as art objects; the advantages university-trained artists have over self-taught artists; learning the business side of art making through trial and error; living and working in an incredible community of artists and collectors in North Carolina; a growing interest and participation in donating her baskets for fundraisers; and looking forward to spending more time with her grandchildren. Sudduth also recalls Cynthia Bringle, Carol Sedestrom Ross, Kenneth Trapp, Howard Risatti, Katie Gingrass, and others.