For generations, African American basket makers have preserved one of the Lowcountry’s oldest and most enduring artistic traditions. Rooted in West African knowledge and adapted through centuries of life along the Georgia and South Carolina coasts, coiled basketry reflects extraordinary skill, resilience, and cultural continuity. These handsewn forms have become internationally recognized works of art while remaining deeply connected to family, community, and place.

Telfair Museums will host Community in Conversation: Carrying African American Basket Traditions, with programs taking place November 5–7. We invite basket makers, scholars, museum professionals, educators, environmentalists, art enthusiasts, and community members to join in conversations and celebrate this significant American craft tradition. Connecting to the exhibition Roots in the Rushes: African American Basketry of the Lowcountry on view at the Telfair Academy, this convening will offer panel discussions, workshops, tours, and engagements that explore the history, techniques, innovations, knowledge, and cultural relevance of this tradition in our region. By gathering, we aim to honor the ongoing vitality of basket-making in the Lowcountry and inspire future generations.

This event is free and open to the public. Seating is first-come, first-served. Space is limited, and pre-registration is recommended. Some individual events may require a fee.

Thursday, November 5

Telfair Academy | 121 Barnard St., Savannah, GA, 31401

6:00pm ‒ Dance & Movement Workshop with Sauda Jackson

Woven Rhythms: Movement, Memory & Community is a high-energy interactive experience inspired by Roots in the Rushes: African American Basketry of the Lowcountry. Through African Diaspora movement and rhythm this all-levels program explores themes of culture, resilience, and community, encouraging meaningful connections with the exhibition and each other.

No dance experience required!

Sponsored by Telfair’s Friends of African American Arts

Friday, November 6

Jepson Center Auditorium | 207 W. York St., Savannah, GA, 31401

6:00pm ‒ Lecture with Dale Rosengarten & Nakia Wigfall Telfair presents a lecture by two distinguished speakers, scholar Dale Rosengarten and Basketmaker Nakia Wigfall to open the museum’s first convening on African American basketry traditions. Dr. Rosengarten will give a talk entitled "Bulrush Is Silver, Sweetgrass Is Gold: The Enduring Art of the Lowcountry Basket." Ms. Wigfall will lecture on her work and show examples she is currently working on.

Saturday, November 7

Jepson Center | 207 W. York St., Savannah, GA, 31401

10:00am – Welcome and Opening Remarks

10:15am – Panel I: "Threads of History, Memory, and Tradition"

This panel traces the people, places, and practices that shaped African American basketmaking in the Lowcountry, revealing a history woven through memory, identity, and enduring cultural connection.

Moderator: Dr. Joyce White, Assistant Professor of English, Gullah Geechee Literatures and Culture, Interim Director of the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Center, GSU

Panelists: Emory Campbell, Nakia Wigfall

11:00am – BREAK

11:15am – Panel II: "From Grass to Basket: Methods & Materials"

This panel explores the materials and techniques that transform grasses, rushes, and other plant fibers into baskets, highlighting the skill, patience, and creativity held in every step of the process.

Moderator: Dale Rosengarten, independent historian

Panelists: Greg Grant, Christa Hayes, Jery Taylor

12:00pm – BREAK FOR LUNCH

12:00pm–1:30pm – Workshop #1

Instructor: Yvonne Grovner | Location: Jepson Center Art Studio (Capacity limited. SOLD OUT)

1:00pm – Panel III: "Carrying the Legacy Forward"

This panel explores how basket makers, and those within Gullah Geechee communities, preserve time- honored techniques, history, and culture while adapting to changing materials, markets, and communities. By teaching, creating, and innovating, today’s makers ensure that this enduring tradition continues into the future.

Moderator: Gail Smith, Historical Interpreter, Pin Point Heritage Museum

Panelists: Carolyn Grant, Anastasia Ketchen, Mya Timmons

1:45pm – Closing Remarks

Program Resumes at the Telfair Academy | 121 Barnard St., Savannah, GA, 31401

2:00pm–4:00pm – Book Signings and Meet & Greets

Location: Telfair Academy Rotunda Gallery

2:00pm–3:30pm – Workshop #2

Instructor: Jennifaye Singleton | Location: Telfair Academy Sculpture Gallery (Capacity limited. Separate registration required.)

2:30pm – Curator-led tour of Roots in the Rushes: African American Basketry of the Lowcountry

4:00pm – Event Concludes

Dale Rosengarten, PH.D., has been studying the tradition of African American coiled basketry since 1984. As guest curator for McKissick Museum at the University of South Carolina, she developed the exhibition and catalog Row Upon Row: Sea Grass Baskets of the South Carolina Lowcountry (1986, 4th edition 2022). Her doctoral dissertation for Harvard University (1997) placed the Lowcountry basket in a global setting and led to the production of an exhibit and book titled Grass Roots: African Origins of an American Art (2008). The show traveled nationally for two years and ended its tour with a six-month run at the National Museum of African Art at the Smithsonian Institution. Rosengarten is currently working with Charleston’s Gibbes Museum of Art on a retrospective of the art of basket maker Mary Foreman Jackson. Pursuing her other field of research—southern Jewish history and culture—Rosengarten was founding director of the Jewish Heritage Collection at the College of Charleston Library and curated the exhibition A Portion of the People: Three Hundred Years of Southern Jewish Life (2002).      

Nakia Wigfall hails from a distinguished lineage of sweetgrass basketmakers, tracing her ancestry five generations back to slavery. Raised in the Six Mile community of Mount Pleasant, South Carolina Renowned for her sweetgrass basketry, Ms. Wigfall is deeply rooted in this cultural family tradition. She has presented keynote talks at museums, galleries, and universities, and has appeared in documentaries aired on ETV, PBS, and CNN Brasil. Ms. Wigfall contributed to SCETV’s Carolina Stories series, ‘Gullah Roots’, which explores the Gullah Geechee Corridor’s connections with West Africa, educating audiences about Gullah heritage in spiritual, musical, and artistic forms. She also appeared in PBS’s ‘The Good Road’, a documentary series highlighting philanthropists and changemakers addressing global humanitarian concerns. Ms. Wigfall has explored her ancestral roots, and similarities between her work and that of Senegalese basket makers and has undertaken international collaborative projects with basket makers in Sierra Leone and the Bahamas.      

Sauda Jackson is a multidisciplinary artist, TEDx speaker, trauma-informed movement facilitator, and creator of The Universal Hug with Sauda. Drawing on more than two decades of teaching, performing, and facilitating workshops across community spaces, museums, universities, and arts organizations. Sauda invites participants to explore culture, history, and healing through movement.          

Yvonne Grovner is part of the coastal community in Sapelo Island, Georgia. As a native of the island, she has been a keeper of Gullah Geechee culture, most importantly by preserving the art of basketmaking. Grovner was taught the craft by renowned basket maker and Sapelo native Allen Green, and she continued to teach it to her descendants. To Grovner, it is important to keep the tradition alive. She has since participated in several basket sewing workshops and demonstrations, alongside giving historic tours of the island. She even created a large traditional sweetgrass basket that served as the central focal point of the Gullah Geechee float during President Obama's second inaugural parade in Washington, D.C.

Jennifaye Singleton is a Gullah/Geechee storyteller, culture bearer, educator, author, quilter, and master sweetgrass basket weaver from the South Carolina Lowcountry. With more than 36 years of experience in sweetgrass basketry, she is dedicated to preserving and sharing Gullah/Geechee history, traditions, and craftsmanship through storytelling, teaching, and the arts. She is also the owner of Geechee Gyal Sweetgrass Baskets, where her work celebrates heritage, culture, and the legacy of generations before her.

Mya Timmons is a freelance illustrator specializing in character design. A fourth-generation Gullah Geechee and Harris Neck community descendant, she was raised in the Harris Neck community of Townsend, Georgia. Today, she works with her family’s seafood business, helping provide locally harvested oysters and blue crabs to her community. As a consultant for UGA Sea Grant, Timmons helped create The Gullah Geechee Plant Guide and The Gullah Geechee Plant Guide Coloring Book, connecting the common names of plants used by Gullah Geechee communities with their scientific binomials. She is currently developing two additional coloring books centered on her Gullah Geechee heritage as part of her UGA Artists, Writers, and Scholars award project, Gullah Geechee Plants & Culture Personified: Illustrations of the Past for the Future.

Joyce White is Assistant Professor of English in Gullah Geechee Literature and Cultures at Georgia Southern University. She received her Ph.D. in Humanities with a primary focus in African American Studies from Clark Atlanta University and earned a BA and MA in English, with a focus in Creative Writing and literature, from Florida State University. Her research interests include 19th, 20th, and 21st century African American and diasporic literature, as well as African cosmological and spiritual continuities in diasporic literature.            

Gail Laverne Smith is a passionate storyteller and poet dedicated to preserving and celebrating the history and culture of the Gullah Geechee people. Through her writing, she honors her heritage while sharing the beauty, strength, and resilience of her community. Her work serves as a bridge between past and present, helping ensure that the voices, stories, and traditions of her ancestors continue to be heard and celebrated.            

Carolyn Grant is a native of Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, whose work as a writer, storyteller, and community advocate is deeply rooted in her Gullah heritage. She co-authored Gullah Days: Hilton Head Island Before the Bridge, 1861–1956, drawing on her connection to the island’s history and culture. Grant began her career as a reporter and freelance writer before expanding into public relations, healthcare marketing, and grant writing. She currently serves as Communications Manager for the Town of Hilton Head Island. Her family also owned and operated Abe’s Native Shrimp House, a renowned restaurant known for its Gullah cuisine and credited with helping establish shrimp and grits as a menu staple. Grant remains active in her community through volunteer and board service, including with Palmetto Electric Cooperative and the Ella C. White Memorial Scholarship Fund.

Emory Shaw Campbell is a Gullah cultural advocate, educator, and environmentalist whose work has focused on preserving the history, culture, and natural heritage of the Sea Islands. A native of Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, Campbell earned a B.S. in Biology from Savannah State College and an M.S. in Environmental Engineering from Tufts University. He began his career as an Environmental Health Engineer, addressing issues affecting Sea Island communities, before becoming Executive Director of Penn Center on St. Helena Island in 1980. During his tenure at Penn Center, Campbell worked to revitalize its historic and educational programs and founded the nationally recognized Penn Center Heritage Days Celebration in 1981. He later served as chairman of the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor Commission from 2008 to 2012. Campbell has authored and co-authored several publications on Gullah history and culture, including Gullah Cultural Legacies and Gullah Days: Hilton Head Island Before the Bridge, 1861–1956. He continues to share Gullah Geechee history through lectures, educational programs, and the Gullah Heritage Trail Tours on Hilton Head Island. His contributions have earned numerous honors, including the Governor’s Award for Historical Preservation and the Carter G. Woodson Award for Civil Rights.

Jery Taylor is a native of Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. As a child, she learned how to sew sweetgrass baskets from her grandmother on Boone Hall Plantation. When real estate and resort development caused a scarcity of sweetgrass, Taylor turned to using bulrush and was taught by Jannie Cohen (1927–2003) of Hilton Head, South Carolina, a celebrated bulrush basket sewer and alum of the Penn School on St. Helena Island. Taylor’s work has been featured on HGTV, the Discovery Channel, and several magazines and publications. Her work is also in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. Today, her work can be found at her studio in Savannah’s City Market.

Anastatia Ketchen, widely known as Lady SheRo, is a multidisciplinary mixed-media artist, author, educator, and Gullah Geechee Sweetgrass Traditions Keeper from Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina. Through sweetgrass basketmaking, oral history, African drumming, and traditional dance, she works to preserve her ancestral heritage and combat cultural erasure. A dedicated educator and community leader, Ketchen collaborates with cultural leaders–including Chieftess Queen Quet, Elder Carlie Towne, and Representative Glenda Simmons-Jenkins–and mentors emerging youth activists through The Sankofa Project, a year-long initiative promoting cultural preservation and community engagement. Her work celebrates the living traditions of the Gullah Geechee people and empowers future generations to carry their heritage forward.

Gregory Grant was born in Savannah, Georgia, with Gullah Geechee roots in South Carolina. He has been making baskets for 20 years, having learned from a relative of noted Sapelo Island basket maker Alan Greene. Grant has regularly demonstrated his basketry at numerous festivals and conferences including Telfair Museum’s Juneteenth program, the Macon Museum of Arts and Sciences, Kennesaw State University, the Gullah Geechee Center at Georgia Southern University, the Georgia Sea Island Festival, and was long associated with the former Geechee Kunda Cultural Center in Riceboro, GA.