COREY ALSTON IS A PROMINENT FIGURE IN THE SWEETGRASS BASKET WEAVING COMMUNITY . HIS INFECTIOUS SMILE AND FRIENDLY PERSONALITY PALE ONLY IN COMPARISON TO HIS BEAUTIFUL ARTWORK .
Although Corey ’ s work can be found at the Charleston City Market and even on display at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington D . C ., he is humble . He ’ s a fifthgeneration sweetgrass artisan who was taught the craft of sweetgrass basket weaving by his mother-inlaw . For Corey , and for many other basket weavers , sweetgrass basket weaving is much more than an art form , it ’ s a Gullah Geechee tradition and a culture that has been passed down for generations .
Before I met Corey , Collie Farah , the Kiawah Conservancy ' s preservation and stewardship specialist , struck up a conversation with a sweetgrass basket weaver selling her art at Rosebank Farmstand on Johns Island . The weaver told Collie she had been having a hard time sourcing sweetgrass and that many other basket weavers were facing the same problem . This conversation prompted Collie to explore whether seeds from native sweetgrass found on Kiawah Island could be harvested and grown , providing a muchneeded resource to community members and further advancing the Conservancy ’ s goal of planting native species in the Kiawah River Watershed .
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