Lightship Basket Museum Opens New Season With New Director
by Mary Lancaster Independent Writer
Lynnette Mautner, the new director of the Nantucket Lightship Basket Museum, is no stranger to the island, having summered here since 1954 and been a part of the local art scene for several years. While hired two weeks ago, Mautner is just in time for the Lightship Basket Museum's season, which began May 23 and runs

PHOTOS BY ROB BENCHLEY/The Independent Lynnette Mautner is the new director of the Nantucket Lightship Basket Museum which recently opened its summer 2008 exhibit "Celebrations."Among the striking features on display is an elaborately scrimshawed whale's jaw bone done by David Lazarus. At top is a close-up view of details on a sewing basket by Michael Kane.

through October 11.

When she learned there was an opening for a new director at the Lightship Basket Museum, she applied, and happily was hired, she said.

"I think it's a perfect fit for both of us," said Mautner. "There is a terrific team here and a wonderful board. I feel very lucky to start at this time of year to see how the museum functions and to meet the docents and volunteers. Because there is such a wonderful lecture series this summer I have the opportunity to learn a lot."

"I've always been very interested in the arts on Nantucket," said Mautner.

Mautner's grandfather, F. Wallais Armstrong, built a cottage on Nantucket in 1929. Though she was primarily a summer visitor for many years, she lived on the island year-round a couple of times before she and her husband, Alex Mautner, a business consultant, and sons Wallace, Oliver and Winston moved permanently to Nantucket last summer. When she lived here previously she worked with Reggie Levine at his former Main Street Gallery and was involved with the Nantucket Arts Council and the Artists' Association of Nantucket.

Mautner majored in English and art history at Marymount College in New York City. While in New York she volunteered with Public School Number Six in Manhattan, coordinating what the students were studying in history class with the art of that area and period and also leading the school's fundraising efforts.

The focus of her master's degree study was how art binds and reflects a community. As part of her studies she also spent time with Native Americans in Arizona and learned how they made their baskets.

She plans to learn how to make lightship baskets this winter.

In the meantime, Mautner will have a front row seat at "Celebrations," the museum's special 2008 exhibition, which features local arts including basketmaking, scrimshaw, wood and antique ivory carvings and paintings along with a full schedule of artisan demonstrations, workshops and lectures.

This year's exhibit features approximately 75 of the 300 or more lightship baskets contained in the collection of the late David Wood. Most of these baskets date between 1850 and 1920. A striking contemporary work on display is a two-tiered sewing basket called "The Last Dance." Woven by Michael Kane, the basket took four years to finish, required 3,281 feet of basket cane, stands four feet and five inches tall and holds more than 400 carved decorations and scrimshaw by Dorothy O'Hara.

Another impressive feature in the exhibit is a panbone, which is the jaw bone of a sperm whale, scrimshawed by David Lazarus. The bone is at least three feet long and holds a depiction called "Nantucket whalers off Hawaii."

New this season is a display of three miniature baskets woven in 2001 - 2002 on the International Space Station by astronaut and 'Sconset summer resident Dan Bursch and an exhibit of work by members of the museum's Youth Weaving Program.

Some of the events on the 2008 summer schedule of "Celebrations" include "Scrimshaw from the Heart" with Dorothy O'Hara on June 12; "Painting in the Garden" with Artists Association members on June 19; "Creating Photo & Mirror Frames in the Nantucket Style" with Ritch Leone on June 26; "Creating the Panbone" with David Lazarus on July 17; "Footstool Weaving Workshop" with Floyd and Melissa Anderson on August 4; "Creating The Last Dance" with Michael Kane on August 14; "Herbs for Cooking" on August 28; "The Art of Collaboration Between the Client and Basketmaker" with Michael Kane, Dorothy O'Hara and Kathleen and Joe Gallichio on September 12; and "My Nantucket Arts" on October 2. A complete schedule of events is available at

the museum at 49 Union St. I