1948, born
Born on Nantucket Island, Karol Marie Lindquist originally trained as a loom weaver. While living in West Virginia during the early 1970s, she expanded this to include split oak and vine baskets. Her basketmaking neighbors and friends included Connie and Tom McColley, who later established the famous Basketry School in the Chloe, West Virginia hills. Karol’s grandparents were—in their time—curating guides at the Nantucket Whaling Museum (they are in the p. 832 museum picture from the June 1970 National Geographic); so upon her return to the island in 1974, she gravitated to the historic craft of the lightship basket.
Karol apprenticed with old time basketmaker Reggie Reed, the son of a lighthouse keeper at the Brant Point Lighthouse, and has instructed lightship baskets locally and around the United States for over thirty years.
Today, she remains on Nantucket Island, bound to history. Karol is married to a scrimshander/oil painter who collaborates with her on topped baskets. Her work appears at Nantucket Looms, an island store internationally known for its high quality American crafts, and her baskets are in the homes of many collectors around the world.
Basketmaking Timeline:
Karol won the “Best of Nantucket” award at the 1999 Michigan Basket Association Convention.
An article about her was featured online in 1999 on the Microsoft Network.
The Northeast Basketmaker’s Guild awarded its ribbon for “Best of Show—Traditional” in its Baskets 2000 event to Lindquist for an oval lightship basket with ebony ears. Northeast Basketmakers Guild
Baskets 2000: A Reflection of Diversity was an international exhibition held at the Loomis Chaffee School, Windsor, CT.
Also, in 2000, she participated for the second time (also in 1995) at the Lowell Folklife Festival as a traditional craft demonstrator.
The Massachusetts Cultural Council awarded Karol a Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Grant in 2002.
In 2002 and again in 2003, Karol was the State of Massachusetts nominee for the prestigious National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.
In May of 2003, she participated as an American craft demonstrator at the Northwest Folklife Festival in Seattle, Washington.
In 2004 she judged the annual basket exhibition at the Venice Arts Center, Venice, Florida.
In 2005, Karol attended the Lowell Folklife Festival, this time as an honored Master Craftsman exhibitor.
In 2006 she made 2 speeches/presentations at the Nantucket Lightship Basket Museum.
In 2006, Karol also gave a slide show presentation as the featured basketmaker for the Northeast Basketmakers Guild annual exhibition at the National Historic Landmark of Slater Mill in Pawtucket, RI.
Her 2006 collaboration with seven other top island basket craftsman resulted in the “Gam” Nest of Baskets, which sold as a fundraiser for the Nantucket Lightship Basket Museum.
In August 2007, Karol teamed with her mentor Reggie Reed for a presentation on basketmaking at the Atheneum’s Great Hall.
In 2008-09, Karol’s work was featured at the forefront of “Keepers of the Tradition: Folk Arts in Massachusetts,” a year-long exhibition at the National Heritage Museum, in collaboration with the Massachusetts Cultural Council and the University of Massachusetts Press who produced the accompanying book.
In 2010 Karol lectured at the Nantucket Lightship Basket Museum.
In 2011 Karol taught at the National Basket Organization Biannual Conference in August at Stonehill College, in Easton.
In 2015 was in All Things Considered VIII NBO basket exhibition
From 2006-2016 Have given speeches/presentations at the Nantucket Lightship Basket Museum each summer.