Roosevelt Bassett is a self-taught artist who turns wood lath into handbags, and his exhibit is on display at Philadelphia International (PHL).
He moved to the city in the late 1960s and began working with wood lath, a discarded material he salvages throughout Philadelphia, mostly from neighborhoods where older homes are being renovated. He cuts the wood into little pieces and assembles them into little houses that act as one-of-a-kind handbags.
Leah Douglas, director of exhibitions at PHL, saw them on display in the window of a small cigar shop.
“When I saw Bassett’s amazing folk art handbags, I knew immediately that the airport should exhibit his work,” she says.
It is Bassett’s first gallery exhibition and can be seen in Terminal B through January.
