Community ArtShare

T. B. Scott Library’s Community ArtShare program originated in 2006 with a $10,000 grant from the Mead Witter Foundation, Inc. with which secure display cases, easels, and other items were procured that have enabled the library to become a place for local artists and collectors to display their creations and hobbies. Displays featuring one or more artists or collectors are featured each month on an ongoing basis.

Baskets Galore and More
by Cindy Leskey

February 2022 – March 2022

Cindy is a longtime resident of Merrill. She has always been interested in creative and artistic endeavors including (but not limited to) painting, sewing, and miscellaneous craft projects. Now her passion is hand-made baskets. Though fairly new to the world of pine needle basketry, she has excelled. Cindy never knows what the finished product will look like until she completes the last stitch. Using loblolly and long leaf pine needles harvested in Florida and South Carolina by a friend, she then hand dyes them to get the brilliant colors.  The bases are hand designed using organic materials, and reclaimed jewelry, beads, buttons, and keepsakes mostly found at second-hand stores and garage sales. The bases are sealed with polyurethane or set in resin. Cindy has also expanded to rope baskets made with clothesline, fabric and trinkets.