A heaping basketful of good fortune

Mary Jackson works in a washed-out, yellow cinder-block building on Savannah Highway, making baskets — lots of baskets. Same as when she was little, she weaves sweetgrass into sculpture.

It's doubtful that through the years many drivers have noticed her studio. It is an unlikely space for genius.

Last week, Jackson was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship, often called a "genius grant." She will be given $500,000, which comes without restrictions, guidelines or strings. Jackson can do whatever she wants with the money.

"It's a dream," Jackson said. "I've always known about this award. Never did I expect to get a call."

The MacArthur Foundation annually selects 20 to 30 people in several fields, rewarding achievements as well as potential. They might be artists, scientists, writers, teachers or entrepreneurs. Or they might be a basket maker like Jackson, who continues to push the centuries-old craft of sweetgrass basketry in new, remarkable directions. Nominations are made anonymously.

Her pieces have been exhibited at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Museum of Arts and Design in New York, and in Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago and Detroit. Even Prince Charles and the Emperor of Japan own her baskets.

"Her work is truly spectacular," said Daniel Socolow, director of the MacArthur Fellows Program. "She does things in ways that others don't, and she has brought the tradition along and recreated it."

Past MacArthur Fellows have included paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould, novelist Cormac McCarthy, literary critic Harold Bloom, novelist Thomas Pynchon, composer Ralph Shapey and jazz violinist Regina Carter.

This year, those joining Jackson include a neurobiologist, a saxophonist, a geriatrician and an inventor of musical instruments.

Typically, the foundation tells recipients by phone. Socolow described the call. "We say, 'Guess what? We've been looking at you. We think you're terrific, and you're never going to hear from us again, but here's a half-million dollars. Go for it.'"

Jackson got her call a week ago. Socolow asked if she was sitting down.

"I just started weeping," Jackson said.

With the fellowship, Jackson wants to explore new ideas and designs, to travel, find more resources and introduce young people to her trade.

"That has always been my goal," said Jackson, 63.

Jackson learned basketry from her mother and grandmother, starting at age 4. She grew up in Mount Pleasant, and in the summertime, she would sit beneath the pecan trees in her grandmother's front yard and make baskets with her siblings.

That's how they kept busy. They didn't have much else to do. "No movie theaters, television or telephone," she said.

Jackson never went to college — her parents wanted her to, but they didn't have the money. Instead she attended speed-writing secretarial school in New York, came home and got a job as an executive assistant at the Medical University of South Carolina. But Jackson quit in the late 1970s to take care of her 18-month-old son, who had chronic asthma.

Soon, she began making baskets full time. "My intention was to try to do designs I wanted to do because I had mastered the traditional designs," she said.

Her mother and grandmother sold their baskets for $2 or $3. Jackson's baskets have sold for more than $20,000. The largest basket she ever made — 3 1/2 feet in diameter — took three years to finish.

She isn't particularly proud of any piece. "I'm proud of the fact that I'm carrying on this tradition," she said.

Jackson still works Monday through Saturday, taking Sunday off for church at Centenary United Methodist on Wentworth Street.

To celebrate her fellowship, her husband, Stoney, fixed them a quiet dinner at home. Jackson smiles. She figures it was two years after she quit her job that the Smithsonian called, asking to show her work.

"That's when I remembered what my mother said to me, 'One day, you might want to learn how to do this.' "

Reach Rob Young at 937-5518 and ryoung@postandcourier.com.