Diane Phillips

Diane Phillips grew up in a family of missionaries who lived in the Northwest and in Alaska. An observant child, she told us that she picked up weaving techniques from her mother (of mixed Native American heritage) and from their Native American neighbors, including the Alaskan Athabascans. From her mother, she learned to weave grass and branches into mats and small structures. As a young adult, the family relocated to the Missouri Ozarks, and Phillips she began making baskets with the materials she could find in her area (grapevine, honeysuckle, buck brush, Virginia creeper) and to apply the dying techniques she learned from her mother. Later, Phillips took up pine needle basket making, gathering long needled pines near home and combining with some purchased materials to create both decorative and functional baskets.

Diane Phillips notes that basketmaking is a long-held tradition in the Ozarks, and she has been fortunate to continue to observe and to learn from regional makers at county fairs and folk arts festivals in West Plains and Oregon County. She credits, by name, those basket weavers and the ones she knew as a child with teaching and inspiring her. And, she is conscious to return the favor, teaching members of her own family: sisters, daughters, and sons, even her mother before she died. Phillips continues to teach classes, at locations like Six Sisters Mercantile, and to demonstrate at festivals, like the Old-Time Music, Ozark Heritage Festival--both in West Plains.

SOURCe - https://www.facebook.com/MOFolkArts/posts/200-storiesdiane-phillips-taap-master-artist-2005-diane-phillips-grew-up-in-a-fa/10161500523499829/ (Oct 2025)