But she came to realize when trying to coil pine-needle baskets that maybe she would never be able to make things the "proper" way, but she could find her own way.

"Later, I realized I was always artistic, but at first I just couldn't cope with things not turning out the way they did in the books," said Zimmerman, 50, who lives in Washington.

Indeed, Zimmerman's baskets are perhaps unlike any you've seen. The materials might include bark, roots, fabric and found objects. She's also an expert in horsehair baskets, considered the most difficult coiling medium. Some of her pieces aren't baskets at all, but are curvy woven sculptures with no opening that use basketmaking techniques. Though she is an active member in North Carolina Basketmakers, Zimmerman considers herself more of a fiber artist. The self-taught artist has won several basket and fiber exhibit awards since she started to enter shows seven years ago. This month her work is featured at Gallery C in Raleigh.

Desert dreams: After working as a National Park Service ranger for many years, most recently at Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona, Zimmerman moved in 1989 to the small city of Washington to be with her husband, a special agent with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "The desert is really beautiful, and I still dream about it sometimes," she said. "But it's really lonely out there. You lose power when it snows. You drive two hours to go to the grocery store. It's more remote than most people imagine." Her time among Native American communities gave her an appreciation for hand-woven baskets.

By the book: When Zimmerman was first at home with their sons, now 12 and 16, she wanted an activity she could easily put down and pick back up again. "Both of my children have special needs, and I really needed a creative outlet," she said. She bought a book on pine needle coiling and in 1998 started weaving baskets from materials in her yard, but her designs weren't coming out like the ones in the book. "I think my children allowed me to understand that things aren't always going to go the way you envision them, and that was OK," she recalled. "It's like when you're making something. You think, I'm going to do this, and the fiber says no. You have to let the fiber do what's it's going to do."

Her own way: While Zimmerman was experimenting with structures that "looked enough like a basket to keep going," she found that the more she learned about the fibers, the more she could plan to outcome. "I started doing things the way I wanted to do them, but it was a long time before I got something good," she said. Now, she said, "I'm not doing things the traditional way, but I look at the traditional techniques to work for me."

Calling all coilers: The year Zimmerman started making baskets, she started an Internet discussion group on coiling when she was unable to find an existing group. "I was having trouble with some things and wanted to talk to other people who coiled," she said of the process where coiled material is spiraled outward and upward to form a basket. The list-serve now has more than 1,000 members and is credited with helping to fuel a resurgence in the technique.

Standing out: At Zimmerman's first N.C. Basketmakers convention, in 2001, her baskets stood out as different, she said. "It was kind of shocking for some people some of the stuff I'd done. North Carolina has a very traditional basket-making community. In California they were way out there already. I was mixing techniques, like twining and coiling and I use different materials and make baskets without openings." She now teaches at conventions, including the annual state convention, which is held every spring in Durham. On Sept. 26 and 27 in New Bern, she'll teach two courses, making horsehair necklaces and acorn ornaments, at a smaller convention hosted by Coastal Carolina Basketweavers Association. Zimmerman is known for horsehair weaving and hopes to write a book about it in the next few years.

Next page >

Get $150+ in coupons in every Sunday N&O. Click here for convenient home delivery.