Jim Bassler, Legacy 10" x 10" x 2" linen, silk, indigo and marigold dyes; 2005
I know that the Basslers, now in their eighties, live today
in Palm Springs, and that Jim, a Professor Emeritus at
UCLA, is still at work on his loom, ever experimenting
with techniques ancient and invented, to create an art
that transcends craft, while patiently, respectfully integrating into warp and weft: culture, his own and that of
the places he has seen.
I went on after that summer, not so much to travel, as
restlessly to go and live in other places, notably New
York, London, Glasgow and Cologne. I see in retrospect
that I often approached these foreign cities, in spite of
my disdain for my native city, with the Los Angelena's
eye for what she could acquire, rather than learn: "I
shop, therefore I am," the artist Barbara Kruger said. But
still I would like to think that, as I reached my thirties, I
found out that there are experiences that money can't
buy, and indeed ones that it obstructs.
HYLAND
