Summary

Marilyn Gumurdul has used a triangle, or half diamond pattern in her preciseley calculated coiled bucket basket. Geometric shapes such as this require careful calculation and clever use of beginnings and endings of lengths of pandanus. Kunwinjku women make baskets and bowls that resemble household items. This basket with its round flat bottom form and handle resembles a bucket and is known by the Kunwinjku term 'badjkid'.

Local Name

badjkid

Physical Description

Circular basket, coiled, with horizontal bands of dyed pandanus on upper body, and half diamond pattern on the sides in the lower body. It has a three coil handle stitched to the rim with pandanus buttons on opposite sides.

Significance

Marilyn Gumurdul's signature style is typically the two sided pandanus handbags, however she is also well known for her coiled baskets. Marilyn is recognised as a very accomplished fibre artist and this is a very experimental with the inclusion of a triangular or half diamond pattern. Her work was profiled in the exhibition, Woven Forms: Contemporary Basket Making in Australia that opened at Object Gallery in Sydney in September 2005 and then toured nationally. This particular basket also featured in the publication '500 Baskets: Celebration of the Basketmakers Art' (2006).

More Information