Master Artisan to Speak on Basketry at Newtown Friends Meeting

David Fraser, M.D., a member of Newtown Quaker Meeting, Master Artisan and well-known artist, will speak on “Baskets Made by Ply-Split Braiding” at historic Newtown Friends Meeting at 219 Court Street (www.newtownfriendsmeeting.org) at 9:45 a.m. on First Day (Sunday), November 23, 2014. The public is invited.

David Fraser, a studio artist named by The Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen as a “Master Artisan,” specializes in applying the ancient art of ply-split braiding to the making of contemporary baskets. His art has been exhibited at the Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show and the Smithsonian Craft Show. Ply-split braiding is used to create baskets that are distinctive for their sculptural qualities and mathematical construction. A rope maker is used to make four-ply cords, usually of paper or waxed linen, which are then interworked with a wooden needle.

Fraser authored A Guide to Weft Twining and Related Structures with Interacting Wefts, the standard work on what may be the oldest textile structure, and co-authored (with wife Barbara) Mantles of Merit: Chin Textiles from Myanmar, India and Bangladesh. This summer Schiffer Books published his Ply-split Braided Baskets. He is a Research Associate at The Textile Museum in Washington, DC, a Consulting Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, and Adjunct Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Pennsylvania.

Fraser was President of Swarthmore College from 1982-91. Swarthmore is one of a number of colleges and universities around the country founded by Quakers, including Haverford, Bryn Mawr, Johns Hopkins, Earlham, Guilford, Whittier, and Cornell.

David Fraser is also an independent consultant with particular interests in epidemiology, international health and education and material culture. Trained in internal medicine and infectious diseases, he led the Federal field investigation of the 1976 Legionnaires’ disease outbreak in Philadelphia and oversaw the CDC team that discovered the role of tampons in toxic shock syndrome.

Fraser was head of the Health, Education and Housing activities in South Asia and East Africa for the Aga Khan’s Secretariat, based in France, from 1991-1995. The Aga Khan’s Development Network (AKDN) works in over 25 countries around the world, employs approximately 60,000 people, and had an annual budget for non-profit development activities in 2008 of approximately $450 million, making it one of the largest private development networks in the world.

From 1996-2000. Dr. Fraser served as Executive Director of the International Clinical Epidemiology Network (INCLEN).

David Fraser grew up in the area and graduated from George School. He lives in Yardley with his wife, Barbara, an attorney. Active in numerous community organizations, David has been Chair of the Board of Pennswood Village in Newtown and Barbara has been Chair of the Board of Mercer Street Friends Center in Trenton, NJ.

Newtown Friends Meeting, co-founded by “Peaceable Kingdom” painter and Quaker minister, Edward Hicks, in 1815, is open to all who wish to attend. Regular First Day Education classes (Sunday School) for all ages begin at 9:45 a.m. and Meeting for Worship begins at 11 a.m. Childcare is provided.