Pat Mercer has studied various creative arts, but none satisfied her desire to learn basket weaving. After retirement, Pat began throwing herself into learning basketry. While continuing to learn, she loves sharing her passion through designing and teaching. For several years, she has contributed to the Christmas ArtisTree project, sponsored by the WV Dept. of Arts, Culture and History. In 2021, her tribute to health care workers, a woven mortar and pestle ornament, was featured in WV ArtWorks Magazine. Pat has taught basketry to all ages from middle school to university to seniors in federal grant-funded programs, private businesses, churches, and arts counsels among others. After the local basketry guild was forced to close, she launched monthly basket weaving classes, which continue to grow in popularity. Pat experiments with non-traditional weaving materials, such as road maps, denim, dog leashes, and cotton cords, and repurposes such items as BBQ tongs, candle-saver lids, and wooden trivets. Many of her designs blend basketry with other art forms such as macrame, decoupage and pour painting. Most of her pieces combine function and form into a decorative piece – in other words, art with a purpose.

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