Sally Prangley lives in Seattle and works out of her home-based studio looking out on the beautiful Mt. Rainier, Washington, USA.
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Tahiti Ring BasketVintage doorbell wire, vintage glass/plastic flowers/beads
3 in x 3 in
7.6 cm x 7.6 cm -
Electro Wildflower (red)Annealed steel, rubber tubing, paper,
beads, fiber optics, battery5 in x 12 in
12.7 cm x 30.5 cm -
Heart House (black/red/white)Annealed steel, papers
3.5 in x 3.5 in x 7 in x 10 in
8.9 cm x 8.9 cm x 17.8 cm x 25.4 cm
Born and raised on a little island in the Seattle area, I spent my childhood drawing, sewing, picking blackberries, learning to cook, reading, and riding my bike. I definitely liked doing things with my hands! I headed to Chicago for college (BA Psychology, Northwestern University with minors in art history and literature), then graduate school (MBA Marketing, George Washington University) with a career in advertising and marketing the arts in mind.
After several years in corporate life (Ogilvy & Mather Advertising in NYC, the Gillette Company in Boston), concurrent with showing my artwork in galleries, I realized my life was much happier in the studio than in the meeting room. So I switched careers and ever since have been happily creating, evolving, and marketing my own artwork from my studio. I’ve been doing this for over 35 years now.
After living and working all over the country, I returned to Seattle where my home-based studio looks out on the beautiful Mt. Rainier.
How I Make My Art
Wire Baskets blend traditional basketry and wirework techniques. All are hand-shaped and use only wire in the weaving process (no forms/glues/solder). Baskets range from purely sculptural to functional, from small (fist-sized) to very large (48” height). Favorite wires included bronze, copper, annealed steel, stainless steel, nickel and brass in a range of gauges, along with the occasional spool of vintage telephone wire, weed whacker cord, speaker wire, and reclaimed manufacturing wire. Most baskets incorporate vintage beads and found objects that are woven in during construction. Vintage beads are generally obtained from old jewelry.
Wire + Paper Baskets, Jewelry, and Sculpture use a range of papers, from vintage French dictionaries to exotic handmade papers from Asia, playing cards to Japanese manga, catalogue pages to old maps. If I can cut it with scissors, I’ll use it.
Wire Jewelry is made from hand-shaped, hammered and/or wrapped wire using cold connections (no glues/solder), often embellished with vintage beads, marbles, and papers. Bronze, stainless steel and annealed steel are my favorites for making necklaces, earrings, brooches, and bracelets.
