Sloan Working on Second Book

Betsey Sloan, leader of the Cypress Patch, is currently working on her second book. The first contains in-depth techniques on using InLace resins, including carving, and will be published this fall by Schiffer Publishing. Artists who have provided articles include Bonnie Gibson, A.B.Amis, Randy Eckley and Gary Devine. The second, featuring antlers as they are used in basketry and gourd art, is slated for release in the spring of 2010. She is presently gathering articles and finished work in support of the book.

Betsey, a native of New England, relocated to South Carolina 5 years ago. In her previous life, she was a public relations director for a large health care corporation, handling advertising, community and public relations, publications and special events. Upon retirement in the early ‘90s, she and her husband George wintered in Florida where she started taking basket lessons from Judy Briscoe, a well recognized instructor. The first time she drilled an antler for a basket, she was hooked. Then Judy taught her how to open and clean a gourd, and Betsey was off and running. Within six months, she was being juried into high-end fine art/fine craft shows in New England as well as the Tampa American Craft Council Show and the Corn Hill Art Festival in New York.

She began teaching as an assistant in a basket supply shop in Venice, Florida. In early 1997 she opened a seasonal gallery in Grand Isle, Vermont, a small space where she taught classes and sold gourds and baskets. When the adjacent 3,000 square foot space opened up, she found a partner and together they opened the Black Cat Gallery where they represented over 75 different artisans. The space was the lower level of a 140 year old building. When it rained, a lot of stock needed to be moved! Due to a decline in seasonal tourism, the gallery closed in the fall of 2001.

Betsey has taught from Maine to Florida and as far west as New Mexico. Currently, she devotes her time to gourd art and the development of her new web site, www.thepodlady.com, where she offers pods and dried botanicals, antlers and other embellishments. For years, attendees at gourd gatherings have identified her from the botanicals she has sold, and often were heard to say “Oh, the pod lady is here.”

She is a certified PMC (fine silver clay) and Art Silver instructor. She was a certified public relations professional and a certified fund raiser. Now she is a certified gourd head.

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