About Anne - Honeysuckle Baskets, Anne Scarpa McCauley

Anne Scarpa McCauley began making honeysuckle baskets as a girl while out tending
goats.

Born in Windsor, Vermont, she moved with her family at age four to the foothills of
the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia. One of eleven children, her family, early
hippies, raised dairy goats along with other animals. From the age of six, Anne often
had the job of taking the herd of about twenty-seven goats to better browsing areas
on the large unfenced parts of the property. There were fields, woods, brooks, and
thicket areas where honeysuckle grew abundantly. The goats loved the bitter taste of
the honeysuckle leaves and often she and the goats would run together to places
where it grew best. While the goats were feasting on the leaves, Anne sometimes
made little circles or wreaths for her hair with the nearby honeysuckle vines.

One day, she decided to make a basket with the long honeysuckle vines. At age
twelve she made a little basket with her own pattern. It is the same pattern she uses
for all her baskets. Anne made more baskets and began to sell them alongside her
family’s woodcrafts at shows. They sold well and began to receive many compliments
and awards. Later Anne exhibited at art shows on her own, and soon the baskets
were also in fine shops and art galleries.

While a teenager, she taught her basket making to students at a local high school and later gave a demonstration to a local
women’s auxiliary. She has also given demonstrations at her children’s school.

Soon after making her first basket, Anne saw a majestic and vivid picture in her mind of a beautiful vase. It has been her main
guide and inspiration for all the thousands of baskets she has since made. From the beginning, her ultimate goal has been to be
able to make that vase.

Anne has never taken lessons, read books, or talked with other basket makers for ideas on making
baskets. Anne received no schooling. She did studying on her own, mostly while out with the goats -
the young goats often staying nearby or sleeping in her lap. Later, at age nineteen, she received her
GED diploma.

She lives outside Charlottesville, Virginia with her husband and five children. Her children now help
make the baskets.

Anne is grateful to the wonderful local people who have continued to let her pick their honeysuckle, while also enjoying the fresh
air in the fields and foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Anne Scarpa McCauley
anne@honeysucklebaskets.com
(434) 978-4679