Horry Electric Cooperative member Donna Davis weaves her way to success as a pine straw artist.
Photo by Milton Morris
Donna Davis
Hometown: Little River, originally from Charleston.
Claim to fame: Pine straw basket artist better known as Zada Mae (facebook.com/zadamaebaskets).
When she’s not weaving: Davis sings and plays piano or autoharp. And she’s learning ukulele.
Words to live by: “I’m a workaholic. When my feet hit the floor in the morning, I’m raring to go.”
Co-op affiliation: Horry Electric Cooperative.
If you have a yard full of pine trees, Donna Davis might make you an offer that’s hard to refuse. She’ll haul your messy pine straw away and return with a hand-woven basket just to thank you.
“I just go up and knock on strangers’ doors and ask if I can rake the yard,” says Davis in a welcoming voice infused with boundless energy and Southern charm. “I’ve made some great friends that way.”
Davis has been weaving baskets with pine straw for 40 years. What started as a hobby when she worked as a logistics manager for the Department of Defense has become her full-time passion.
She first learned the Gullah art of sweetgrass coiling but switched to pine needles because “they are easier to work with and your imagination can go crazy. You can incorporate sand dollars, shells, beads … anything with a hole in it.”
When Davis opened her gallery, she realized that “Baskets by Donna” lacked pizazz, so she combined her grandmothers’ names. As Zada Mae, she has shipped creations all over the United States, Asia and Europe. In the last 12 years, she’s made 2,706 baskets ranging in price from $25 to $350, like the large, ornate creation in her gallery that features a sea turtle.
She’s also taught countless students at her Myrtle Beach studio/gallery—including folks with multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s, stroke survivors and the victim of a traumatic brain injury.
“It’s very therapeutic. Students improve dexterity and develop good hand-eye coordination,” she says. “I want to be sure every one of my students has the best experience they can possibly have.”