The Sweet Grass Basket Maker

Spring Sunset

April 2010

Genesis 1:31
"God saw all that he had made, and it was very good."

I met Martha, my colleague from the museum, at the Meridian Dock, where we boarded the Sapelo Queen and headed toward our 45-minute commute to Sapelo Island to interview and photograph the legendary Sweet Grass Basket Maker, Allen Green.

I had volunteered during the summer of 1990 as a freelance writer for the Coastal Georgia Historical Museum. The job had introduced me to cultural icons from around Georgia. I helped promote the Sea Island Singers on a local morning television show, and I had written text for an art show by a prominent artist whose works were on display in the museum.

Martha and I had now been commissioned to interview and photograph Mr. Green, who was approaching the end of his life.  We talked to him about the process he used to make baskets, a skill he was taught in childhood as he was raised in the Hog Hammock community on Sapelo Island, a coastal barrier island populated by the descendants of slaves from the African nation of Sierra Leone.

Mr. Green was teaching others that morning how to make sweet grass baskets so the tradition would carry on after his death. Both men and women sat at his feet to learn his secrets.

He selected two strands of sweet grass and began to twist them masterfully together. Before long, he added a third strand to the first two. His fingers flew. He didn't think; he felt his way through the process. Finally a small basket took shape before our eyes.

I thought, God is like this. He's a master craftsman. He creates at ease.

I wonder what He thought as He fiddled in the mud and clay and molded and shaped Adam.? Did he dabble around with the nose some?  Did He think about giving him a short stubby one like mine, or did Adam get a classic Roman nose--straight as an arrow?

What emotions welled up inside of God as He saw Adam begin to breathe and move on his own?  Did He feel like crying in joy for the birth of this child? His newest creation?

All we see in the Bible is His assessment of His work. That the end result is "good."  But still, I wonder, what did it feel like to create a masterpiece and step back and let it make its own decisions. And then, how sad and painful to become separated from those whom you love through sin.

In 1990 I watched how tenderly a master basket maker made a sweet grass basket. 

I can only imagine how tenderly God created man and woman. How much He truly loves them then and now.
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Lord, thank you for creating me in your image and for the love and tenderness you show me everyday.
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Here is a link to the Sapelo Island Sweet Grass Baskets, with a photo of Allen Green.

Sapelo Island Sweet Grass Baskets