My name is Marcia Morse Mullins. I live and work in Lakeland, Florida. My work celebrates Nature and the interconnectedness of all life on earth. Natural shapes, patterns, and concepts are at the heart of my creations. I primarily work in materials foraged from the environment and manipulated with time-honored techniques. My preferred medium is black ash splint, but biodiversity changes in northern forests have required incorporating other natural fibers into my work. Whether functional or form-based, my weavings employ advanced fine work techniques and the carefully planned movement of fibers to combine disparate materials into a new whole.
My journey began in the 1980s, when Mike Sagataw taught me how to select, harvest, and prepare a Black Ash tree for splint woven basketry. Mike was a Potawatomi elder with a deep reverence for honoring the ancestors' knowledge. Following his teachings, I honor each felled tree and believe the spirit of an ash tree remains within the forms woven from its wood and bark. Once the splints are prepared, my weaving is distinctly different from traditional Native American baskets.
I also studied white oak splint basketry under Connie and Tom McColley in West Virginia. Tom challenged me to explore sculptural forms for a full year, with any weaving deemed as falling short of the challenge being destined for the burn pile. Nothing but firewood hit the wood stove and my weaving skills improved exponentially.
Installations of my work began in 1996 with Branching Out at the Alberta House Gallery in Sault Ste Marie, Michigan. Since then, I have exhibited throughout the United States and Canada, as well as in Italy. I was a seminar presenter at Disney's Epcot International Festival of the Arts and my work was included in Homo Faber 2024: The Journey of Life. Homo Faber is part of La Biennale di Venezia in Venice, Italy.
In addition to making vessels and sculptural forms, I am the Botany Specialist for Take Two, an Australian company that offers online courses in various fiber arts. I work with Harriet Goodall's course, Form to Freedom, helping her students identify and learn how to utilize the plants that grow in their specific region of the world.
My resume can be downloaded as a PDF below: