It’s not every day that a top New York City journalist leaves her career to become a basket weaver. But that’s the path taken by Garrison artist Deborah Needleman.
“It was a pretty giant transition, but I was ready for it,” she says. She knew the time was right for a change when she realized she wanted to stay in her weekend home in Garrison rather than return to the city, and to put her time to a different use.
Needleman began her journalism career as a garden writer for The New York Times, Slate and House & Garden, and finished it covering arts and culture. She says she enjoyed writing about people she found fascinating and sharing their stories with a wide audience.
But it was while working at T: The New York Times Style Magazine (where she was editor-in-chief from 2012 to 2016) that a seed was planted. While researching a story, Needleman watched a video of a woman in Sussex, England, weaving a basket and knew she would soon have a new hobby. It eventually became more, prompting the reassessment of how she spent her days.
As an artist, “this idea of having to make up my day, every single day, was like: ‘Oh my God, what do I do today?’ ” she recalls. “It’s incredible freedom, but it was daunting. It’s 100 percent up to me. And that’s satisfying. And also overwhelming.”
Needleman turned a shed full of junk into a studio for basket weaving and other crafts. “I’m into making useful things rather than sculptures,” she says. “So I make lots of wastepaper baskets and plant holders. I also make birdcages, which are not useful, but they are cool.”
Needleman has experimented with plants and grasses for her baskets but has settled on willow (for harder baskets) and rush (for softer ones).
She has been growing willow in her garden for two years to supplement what she buys from farmers. “In the winter, when the leaves fall off, and before the sap rises, you cut it and each year when you cut it more shoots up,” she says. “But I need a bigger place to grow. I only have 10 varieties here.”
She soaks the plant for a day or two before testing its bend to see if it’s ready to use. The willow soaking in the tub in her studio was ready.
“I just learned how to do square work, which is different from making a round basket,” she says. “So, I have a ton to learn. Every time I see a beautiful basket I’m like: ‘I want to make that.’”
Needleman says basket weaving has helped her connect to other weavers and gives her a sense of contentment.
“Craft is a lot about repetition, and you’re making the same movement over and over again, and there’s something deeply pleasing about that,” she says. “I don’t know why, but people often say, ‘Oh, it must be so therapeutic,’ and I think, ‘Yes, but it’s also frustrating, challenging and tiring.’
It sounds kind of crazy, but I do feel connected to all the other weavers throughout history,” she says. “It’s like: ‘I’m doing this thing that people have done forever.’
“This year is the first year that I’m not doing anything but this,” she adds. After years of being away from the daily grind, Needleman says she has no desire to return. “I can’t imagine being in an office now.
“Politics and culture are so divisive, and what interests me are the things that we as humans share, and things that connect us,” she says. “That’s basket weaving. It makes me aware of all the things that join us as people.”
A selection of Needleman’s baskets is available at gardenheir.com for $168 to $498, along with her limited-edition garden tea.
