O.P. Earle Elementary School will host Charleston Sweetgrass basket weaver Sarah Edwards-Hammond as its visual artist in residence.
The Mary F. Kessler Fund, Polk County Community Foundation funded the residency. Hammond will work with third graders the week of Jan. 14-17.

Hammond, one of Charleston’s finest sweet grass basket makers, learned this unique form of art at the age of 7 by her mother, the late Mrs. Estelle Edwards.

Enslaved West Africans brought the oldest art form of African origin to the South Carolina Lowcountry in the late 17th century.

Sweetgrass baskets – another dimension of the African experience in America – vividly illustrate the beauty of a diverse culture. Sweetgrass baskets are made with sweet grass, palm, bulrush and pine needles using a tool called a nail bone.