Dordogne, Berkshire, Catalonia (Part 3 Catalonia)

From Reading to Catalonia to arrive in the last hour of the annual basket fair in Salt on the outskirts of Girona, so I made a quick dash around to try and see as much as possible before it closed. The Fair is organised by the Catalan Basketmakers Association who had invited me to run a post fair course for some of their members. On the Monday a group of us headed out of Girona to Toroella de Montgri to visit Josep and Magdas  workshop/shop. Set in a narrow street it had a cave like feel, filled with basketry, materials and chairs for restoration and where in a dark corner a female ‘gigante’ watches over everything.

On to the house that the association had rented for the course set on a ‘slow’ farm in the countryside, then off to the beach at the mouth of the river Ter to gather both beach flotsam and maritime rush Juncus acutus. Never having had a chance to handle this version of rush before I now understand why it is used to make fish traps and baskets like the saranda - it is very tough. Josep taught us how to pull it from the plant in two movements but some plants surrendered their rushes much more easily than others!

There were 13 students, Italian, French, Venezuelan and Spanish, most of whom are professional makers who had just had a hard weekend of selling at the fair so I offered them an opportunity to ‘play’ and to experiment rather than to impose specific techniques on them. But I did ask them only to use materials that were free. In fact some purchased materials were brought to the workshop and used towards the end and the machine split chestnut bands were perfect for certain techniques. It would be great if someone in UK could make those, or ash or hazel ones for us. Anyone know a wood/coppice/forestry business that might take it on, or at least give it a go? I am sure there would be a market for them.

Instead of completed items I brought lots of my technical samples for them to examine, they could choose any techniques they would like to learn and I asked them to make something that could be carried on the body without using the hands to hold whatever they made. We only had two days to work in and at the end of the second day the makers performed a catwalk wearing their creations. Antonios  plaited palmito nose cone for stabbing flies whilst working was just one of many gems!

As always it was a real pleasure to be in the company of fellow makers and my thanks to Josep and the Catalan Basketmakers for inviting me to share some time with them, to Idoia and Severine for translations from French to Spanish, to Mari for taking photos and setting up a Whats app group, to Carles, Francoise, Julio and many others for cooking skills, Magda for the lift to the station and to all of them for ‘playing’ and experimenting.

Dordogne, Berkshire, Catalonia (Part 1 Dordogne)

During last week, three unrelated events took me to a French lycee in Perigueux, a museum in Berkshire and a basketry fair in Catalonia. The self-employed life has always been like that and I have learnt that, you have to take opportunities when they are offered because turning them down, however genuine the cause, hurts the proposer and they seldom repeat the invitation. It was mentally taxing doing all three, one after the other, but my carbon footprint was considerably reduced by linking the three events together and that was important for me.
I have divided this blog into 3 separate posts to make it a tad more digestible!

When I was invited to do an ‘intervention’ at the Lycee Albert Claveille in Perigueux, I liked the proposal very much but was anxious about how I could actually achieve everything. The brief was to give a talk about my work and to teach 105 fifteen to eighteen year old pupils some basic basketry techniques in the space of about 4 and a half hours. All of this to be done in French, which for someone who failed French O level, is an achievement in itself.

Never having taught in a Lycee I had no idea what to expect. But I am a great believer in preparation because if I have done as much of it as I possibly can and done it as well as I know how, the chances are things will work out in the end. It also helps hugely to have someone in the school who has thought of everything from their point of view too. I was very lucky to have Celine, one of the applied arts teachers, initiate the project and plan it extremely well with 5 teachers, 4 classrooms and video projection for the practical instruction. I did the talk first, then three demonstrations, which were projected so all pupils could see, then they were split into 4 groups each with a teacher and I went from room to room. In the end it was a very positive experience for me as the pupils listened attentively, asked lots of intelligent questions and then made 3 different samples from recycled paper or card in random weave, diagonal plaiting and hexagonal plaiting (more photos in the schools facebook link here )

              

The applied arts teachers will continue the project using polypropylene strapping tape and I am looking forward to seeing what they come up with.
Thanks to Karen Gossart and Corentin Laval for suggesting me to the school.

One of the teachers, S. Frangeul, brought in some baskets from his personal collection and this one I found particularly interesting. He told me it was a dough basket from the Dordogne and that he also had a smaller one at home. It has a linen lining common on dough baskets but the shape and the random weave were unlike any other bread raising basket I have ever seen. It is a big basket maybe 70cms long and looks more like a flower basket to me. I would be interested to hear from anyone who has come across any others like this.

Farting About

Weaving Ghosts at An Lanntair

According to the Oxford English Dictionary ‘farting about’ seems the best way to describe the current post-exhibition phase of my work cycle. It’s always hard getting back into it when I have been away from the studio for a few weeks.

It wasn’t possible to be at An Lanntair in Stornoway to set up Weaving Ghosts so I was keen to go and see if my written instructions had enabled Roddy Murray and the gallery staff at An Lanntair to install it as I wanted. Barring problems to do with lighting (which meant the shadows on The Ossuary were not as intended) and the very high ceilings that prevented the installation of Hoose, (hopefully I will get another chance to install it somewhere else) the exhibition looked good in the space. I was particularly happy with North Atlantic Drift because the spacing between the individual baskets was perfect (not easy with 70 plus baskets all different shapes and sizes), so my thanks to Roddy Murray for that.

North Atlantic Drift and There Were 15 To Feed At Midbrake 

The 8 schools workshops for children aged between 5 and 13 were full on but I had very generous help from two members of the Scottish Basketmakers Circle, Dawn Susan and Angela Price along with JJ plus staff from the schools and An Lanntair, for which I am very grateful. Thanks are particularly owing to Moira for her organisation and communication skills and to Joe for his knowledgeable and willing practical aid. A gallery talk and an interview on BBC Radio Scotland were also packed into 4 days.

Unravelling with Joe!

Exhibitions are really important for me, without them I don’t do much in the studio. I love the whole process involved in creating, curating and organising an exhibition, but this post-exhibition phase is always the hardest bit.

Weaving Ghosts has had 5 showings so far (2 Scotland and 3 Norway) and there is at least one more venue planned in England but not until next year, so at the moment I am trying to find more galleries to fill the gap or continue the tour, but it’s a pretty thankless task.

On the evidence of my experience the only way to get venues to give you a show is if you actually know someone who works there, or have some link to the venue. Sending unsolicited proposals has seldom been successful for me. It doesn’t take much to just acknowledge receipt of a proposal but it’s obviously too much effort for a lot of the people responsible for planning exhibitions. Many of the bigger and better known galleries also specifically say that they do not accept unsolicited submissions so unless you know someone working there you haven’t a hope in hell. Smaller regional museums and Art Centres in Britain are easier to get a show in than the big galleries, so that is where I concentrate my efforts though even with them it’s also often hard to get a response. Just a ‘thank you’ would do. So far I have sent out 4 detailed proposals tailored to individual venues in the last couple of months and not had a single response. I am an artist, not a salesperson, so I am not going to cold call or doorstep people, I try to find a more sympathetic way of doing things, but even after 30 plus years at it I still don’t really know what is the right way to get results!

Meanwhile I have plenty more ideas I want to explore for Weaving Ghosts but without a confirmed date for its next showing I am finding it difficult to focus so today have spent my studio time flitting from one thing to the next.

 

Here is a typical unfocused day in the studio…..ironing some plastic lids, I really like the resulting flat brightly coloured disks with the vestiges of their ribbed edges and screw mechanism. Making willow frames for the planned Southport Boat Basket. No kinks today, possibly because I had soaked the white willow for much longer and had altered the former I made with some concave shaping on the corners and an inner tube to cushion it. Cutting up heavy duty polyethylene bottles, possibly for the SBB but not sure and cutting up inner tube for tying the frames. Playing with gladioli leaves to see if I can remember how to start a continuous, non-stitched, coiled, plait, like the one Carlos Fontales briefly showed me how to do with esparto. Gave up after a while, as it wasn’t working and was just making me cross. In principle it seems very simple, I am just having difficulty with the rhythm of it and the hand positioning at the moment.

Took some photos of work in progress on the Southport, responded to some emails and social media, edited the Weaving Ghosts proposal for galleries and looked on line for some regional museums. Sorted some willows and put them to soak in the pond. Started writing this blog post. Shaved some skeins of willow, for the SBB, and watched an astonishing amount of large hailstones come out of the sky and cover the ground outside the studio in a few seconds. 

I hope this phase doesn’t go on too long, because it feels a bit tedious and uncreative, but I know it’s the only way I am going to get back into it, it’s essential to be in the studio just ‘farting about’.

Woven Communities in Shetland

Ewen Balfour working with the children at Urufirth 

Stephanie Bunn  at the University of St. Andrews  is the driving force behind the Woven Communitites Project ,which  has been going for a few years now. Its main aim is to document the materials, techniques,  people and  places  that were  all part of the vernacular basketry of Scotland. Through  its symposia and other activities the Project also includes contemporary international  practice and methodologies in the discussion.

This summer Stephanie, along with  Dawn Susan, Julie  Gurr and Liz Balfour,  has been visiting Museums in the Highlands and Islands, documenting objects meeting elders and organising events.
The Shetland Museum was one of the partner organisations and Ian Tait, the Director  of the Shetland Museum, invited myself and Ewen Balfour  to be involved in the Woven Communities activities that were being organised by  Kirsty and Yvonne, the Museums Education team,  in Shetland schools.  I happily accepted, though not without some trepidation, because it has been a while since I have done any work in schools.

Simmens 'makkin' at Urufirth

In the end the programme that was divised between us all worked  well.  Ian started with a talk about the Shetland basketry tradition, this was followed by Ewen who taught the pupils how to make simmens (rope) with floss ( Juncus effusis) and then showed them how  the simmens were used for making  kishies. Stephanie told the children about the Woven Communities Project and it was my task to  re-enforce the simmens making, but with bits of found ghost rope pieces, that we then tied or stitched into baskets. Stephanie documented the activities in all the schools on video.

Whalsay pupils and their baskets made from found materials

Locals were invited to come in with any baskets that they had at home and in Unst we had several visitors come to the school with lovely kishies.

Child size kishies made some years ago on Unst

My co-workers, the schools, their teachers and the children were all a pleasure to work with and seemed to genuinely enjoy their immersion. A session at Urufirth was made very special by the children bursting into spontaneous singing, whilst working.

If we do not work with children we cannot expect any of these traditional skills to survive. So for me it was a positive and rewarding experience to know that as a result of this project at least 30 children aged between 7 and 13, who knew little or nothing about the tradition of basket making in Shetland, now know a lot more and are capable of making  a small coiled basket and simmens in various materials.

For those interested there is a second Woven Communities symposium being organised by  Stephanie at St. Andrews for January 2017. Details will be being published soon, so check the Woven Communities Facebook page if you are interested in attending.

Drawing Inspiration

1996 Contemplate and Cure, Taitemia Gallery, Kuopio, Finland

One of the requirements of the City and Guilds Basketry Certificate, that I did at the London College of Furniture in 1982, was to produce a body of work using all the techniques and materials we had studied based on a theme. Mine was Baskets in Paintings as there were plenty of them and  I enjoyed looking for them. Subsequently, paintings and drawings, without baskets in them, have often provided me with inspiration and in each case helped me to develop new techniques and forms,(the Heironymous Bosch painting Christ Crowned with Thorns  and Picasso's The Pan Pipes, among others)  but I haven't done any for a while.

1998 Basket inspired by Heironymous Bosch, Cardboard, willow and plastic bottles

During a recent search for some slides of old work I came across some  images which reminded me just how good it can be to work off someone else's creativity, without actually working collaboratively.

In 1996 JJ Ignatius Brennan (my husband) and I had a joint exhibition in Finland, at the Taitemia Gallery in Kuopio. The title of the Exhibition was 'Contemplate and Cure' which was also the title of a series of drawings he had done in response to my having a cancer scare. In turn I then used his drawings as the inspiration for my baskets. For me it was a great way to get ideas without having to search for them, they just leapt off the drawings at me, but they also presented me with  lots of challenges in terms of techniques, which I relished.

Whilst we were there we taught a joint workshop at Kuopio Academy of Crafts and Design where the students were asked to use their senses smelling, touching and hearing things to inspire marks on paper. These marks led to drawings which became baskets.

It was a long time ago, I cannot remember the names of all of the students and my photos of the workshop were not good. But I do remember it being a very creative few days, for all of us.

Shetland Workshops

 Like much of Britain the weather in Shetland since Christmas has been wetter and windier than usual. Many folk here don't remember it being as bad for the last 40 years. For three weeks in January the wind blew at gale force almost every day which, accompanied by rain, meant the simple act of going out of doors became almost impossible. The front door on the house is positioned facing east to avoid the normal southwesterly gales but these January gales came from the south east requiring a shoulder barge of rugby playing proportions to close the door. But if you give up the struggle and stay indoors the wind howling round the house and down the chimney can quickly drive you crazy so, I organised a couple of workshops to fend off cabin fever.

My thanks go to Chris Dumont for helping to organise the twining one at Baltasound on Unst. A small group, but hardly surprising given that several inter island ferries had been cancelled due to the weather in preceding weeks, something that happens rarely. People from the mainland of Shetland are understandably nervous of getting stranded in the North Isles as there is little in the way of hotel accommodation or eating places in either Unst or Yell at this time of year. The prospect of spending the night in your car is therefore a real and not very appetising one.

Chris made a kishie out of the fine polypropylene netting that crofters use on their bales of silage. We had to devise some ways of weaving with it because, unlike straw, this material made it difficult to differentiate the various strands making up the hjogs. It worked in the end and he has used it to go shopping with.

The following weekend the frame basketry workshop at Levenwick on the mainland was fully booked and my thanks go to Barbara Dinnage for helping to organise that one. 

Frame basketry is not part of the Shetland basketry tradition because there are few trees to make the frames out of. But, it is a good technique for people who enjoy textile weaving as the process is more akin to loom weaving than stake and strand basketry. It is also a great technique for using a wide variety of found materials. I don't normally do any preparation for students because I believe it is important for them to learn the whole process from gathering the material to completing the basket. But in this instance I made the frames out of willows from my garden in advance so that they could dry a bit, because flexible frames make controlling the shape much harder. However I did demonstrate how to make the frames so that they weren't missing out on that information and they had to make their own ribs. People brought along a wide variety of found materials including felted off-cuts from knitting machines, which was anew one for me and it worked really well. My thanks go to all the students at both workshops for making the effort to come and dragging themselves away from their warm houses.

Workshops in Shetland

My next two workshops are in the Shetland Islands.The first  is on Unst, the most northerly island in Britain . It’s a special place that few people in Britain seem to know exists. Perhaps it's because the Shetland Islands are often off the top of the screen on TV weather maps! It is a twining workshop using found, natural and recycled materials and it will take place on Saturday the 8^th and Sunday 9^th February. See the link in the side panel for details of how to book.

The following Sunday the 16^th I will be doing a one day workshop at Levenwick in the south of mainland Shetland. This time the topic is frame basketry with the same combination of materials.

Again the details of how to book are in the side panel.

Scottish Basketmakers Circle Gathering at Hospitalfield

The Scottish Basketmakers Circle celebrated 25 years of existence at Hospitlafield Centre for Art and Culture in Arbroath  last weekend. I was privileged to be invited to this extraordinary venue as one of the three tutors. Owen Jones, oak swill maker,  and Geoff Forrest, willow basket maker, were my co-tutors. 

 

At first sight Hospitalfield appears to be one of those Victorian gothic piles that were built on the proceeds of a dubious mixture of colonialisation, industrialisation and exploitation,  but the truth is very different. The Hospitalifield Trust has been in existence since 1873 and it became  the first post graduate art school in Scotland in 1936  providing support for artists from both Britain and abroad continually since then. Carved ceilings, tapestries, baronial fireplaces, paintings and sculptures were all commissioned for the house with the intention of providing  jobs for both artists and artisans or were accepted as payment for tuition. The money to provide these commissions apparently came from the astute, yet  benign, management of the estates belonging to the house by the artist and landlord Patrick Allen-Fraser and his wife Elizabeth.  She had inherited them from her father. In recent years most of the assests that could be dispensed with have been sold and the house is now in need of attention, especially the guest accommodation. So, the most common topic of conversation for the first  day of the SBC’s celebratory gathering were the foibles of the plumbing and the eccentricities of the building! But it was an appropriate setting for the gathering, with its spirit of creativity and we have Laura Hamilton to thank for finding such a special venue for this occasion.

All three workshops took place in and around a purpose built  (1901) studio block. My class had a room with a monumental fireplace,  large white plaster classical busts and leaking roof lights. Owens class with their froes, axes and bonfires worked out of doors, when it wasn’t raining, (and sometimes when it was)  and Geoff worked at the other end of the building in a large studio that had plenty of room for staking up square willow baskets.

Owens workshop

Geoffs workshop

It is always hard for my students to be in a situation where the students in the other classes are all making the same thing  using the same materials that have been brought to the class and, quite often, though not  in this instance, also prepared by the tutors. In my  workshops the aim is to help students develop a personal identity for their work through the use of materials that are from their own environment, alongside the learning  of techniques  to help them adapt their  ideas to those materials.   But this takes time. First of all you have to discover how best to prepare the material, then you have to find out which techniques they are appropriate for, both of which  you can only find out through experimentation. So, at the end of the first day, when their fellow students come in to see what has been done, there is always someone who, somewhat unkindly, says… ‘is that all you’ve done'?  Lots of experimentation with different materials and techniques does not produce complete baskets, or immediate results. Often it isn’t until the students return home and have assimilated what they have learnt that anything takes shape. So, I  have deep respect for my students who put up with the jibes and continue to experiment and try different things, just as they did in this instance.

For this workshop the techniques we covered were all coiled: tied, stitched, plaited, woven and looped with many variations.  The materials the students used were either brought from their home or found at Hospitalfield. Angela brought selvedge ends from Harris tweed, unwanted T shirts and reject silk threads from a sari factory. Caroline  brought mosses and grasses as well as some found strapping tape and papers. Julie  brought a bundle of  rope from the beach and sea weed, local newspapers and the cut off sisal ties from her own bundles of willow.  Janice also brought beach  rope, willow and a luminous orange washing line, Grizelda came with  fabric remnants and yarns and plastic bags and Charlotte had  lustrous threads but also raided the Hospitalfield grounds, harvesting nettles and umbelliferae , ivy and montbretia. The oak shavings from Owens class and buff willow rods that were bent and rejected from Geoffs'  also made an appearance. The resulting work from materials this varied often surprises the makers as much as me and this group were no different. So my thanks to them for taking a risk and experimenting hard for three days.

 

This relationship between the basket maker and his or her materials seems to me now, to be essential to producing work that has integrity. When I think of all the makers whose work I have ever admired there are few who do not manage their own materials. They cultivate or gather and prepare them and they  are involved in every stage of the whole process and in the end I think it shows.


Working alongside both Owen Jones and Felicity Irons this year has, for me, been a forceful reminder of this. They both have total control over their materials and all the processes necessary to turn those materials, in this case oak and rush, into products that are not only exemplary in terms of environmental impact, but also have a powerful authenticity and beauty as a consequence of  being of the place where they are made. Owen spends days in the forest looking for the right tree and Felicity gives up six weeks of every summer to harvest  rush from the local rivers and somehow, when you look at the end result, it is evident.

I always hope, therefore, that the students in my classes go away having realised  that it isn’t necessary to buy materials to make baskets. If they then  make their baskets from the materials they have found around them and are prepared to do the research to find out  which techniques work best with each material, their baskets will also have an authenticity and beauty that those made  from bought materials will seldom have.
I also hope that Patrick Allen Fraser would have approved of this methodology and the creative experiments that took place in his studio.