Urban Baskets in Shetland

There was a good attendance at the opening of “Urban Baskets; tradition recycled” at the Bonhoga Gallery on Friday night.  My thanks go to all who helped with the installation and the opening but especially Jane Mathews, Kristi Cumming and Barbara Ridland. Hazel Hughson also deserves  thanks as she has been my main contact at Shetland Arts over the last six years and was instrumental in obtaining funding for the exhibition package and previous workshops. Alas, she was not at the opening because she had escaped for a much needed holiday in Portugal!

The work sits well in the spaces at the old mill, both in the gallery and the cafe, and people were smiling as they left, which is always a good sign.

Today, Tuesday 29^th March from 18.30 – 20.30 I will be doing gallery tours for visitors and then at the weekend 2^nd and 3^rd April I will be teaching a two day coiling and looping workshop at Quarff Hall. Bookings for both of these events can be made through the Shetland Arts Box Office.

http://www.shetlandboxoffice.org/ The tours are free but it's necessary to book anyway.

As always, when I am here, my time is running out very fast and I have not had time to make any new work which is frustrating when there is so much material just waiting for me. The 'Voar Redd Upp' (spring clean up) of the beaches happens in a few weeks when volunteers armed with bin bags collect flotsam and jetsam that has been washed and blown ashore over the winter, the quantity and quality of the material that awaits them is astonishing, most of it a by product of the fishing industry. Here is a typical example, already coralled by locals, at the beautiful West Sandwick beach on Yell. I want it all!....

Travelling Slowly

"Urban Baskets" is arriving in Shetland soon - we hope. It closed in North Wales on Tuesday and now packed, and on the truck, we will be anxiously watching the weather forecasts, hoping the Aberdeen to Lerwick ferry won't be cancelled and that it will arrive in time for us to set it up at Bonhoga Gallery prior to the opening on the 25th. An interesting alternative might, however, be to let the public open the boxes and lay the show out on the opening night!

 Shetland is on latitude 60, and it isn't until you travel the slow way that you really realise just how far north that is. Prior to each visit up here I spend hours on the internet trying to find the cheapest, most environmentally friendly and least physically exhausting way to do it. This time the result of this endeavour was a two day journey and 10 different means of transport. Car, train, taxi, plane,coach, bus,and then the Caledonian sleeper which rattled, clunked and swayed its way north overnight from Euston to Aberdeen. As it alternated between hurtling and crawling there was something strangely comforting about being tucked up in crisp white sheets whilst it did so.

The following day was spent wandering Aberdeen and at sunset, when the ferry slid out of the harbour on dark silky waters, it was hard to imagine being on a boat let alone on one of the roughest stretches of water around the British Isles. Fourteen hours later the 'Hjaltland' glided onto the berth in Lerwick, I haven't slept so soundly in ages. The weirdest effect of this languorous journey to the islands was that the subsequent 50 minute drive and ferry ride north to Mid Yell seemed to pass in the blink of an eye. Sometimes, after flying in to Shetland the same journey feels like an interminable trip to the very end of the earth. Which just goes to prove that time is flexible in between the rising and setting of the sun, it's only clocks that aren't.

Whilst in Aberdeen I visited the Maritime Museum. It is typical of many museums where the curators have tried to make the objects they treasure as entertaining as possible for everyone, regardless of whether or not these visitors have any interest in maritime history, or whatever else it is that the particular institution is hoarding. Consequently there is a stage set of a fisherman's cottage and a three storey model of an oil rig. The latter demonstrating very well that they are mechanical icebergs with the larger part under the surface. But, I find myself bored by the museum, there is nothing left for me to discover. It's all been picked over and cleaned and laid out by someone who is trying to determine exactly what I should understand, and experience, from each particular object. Of course, I am looking for baskets, but the curators obviously don't think baskets will draw the crowds.

Aberdeen has been an important port for fishing and the oil industry for a very long time and whilst there are few, if any, baskets used in the oil industry there used to be thousands used in fishing. There are a few crans and creels on display and some photos of them in use but no mention of where they were made or who made them. Were they men or women, this is seldom a foregone conclusion in basket making? Did they work in large workshops or was it done by 'out-workers' doing piece work in their own homes? Where did the materials came from? It is this last question that I am most curious about because many of the baskets made for the herring industry in the 19th Century employed whole rattan which came from South East Asia. It was used because it was incredibly strong and withstood the constant soaking with salt water but how did the basket makers in Britain at that time know this? And what triggered the importation of the rattan in the first place? In Shetland we have the tradition of the “willow kishie” which was actually made of rattan rather than willow, but, here there is a confusion of nomenclature that implies that the people using the rattan were not aware of what it was or where it came from and suggests that its use was circumstantial and pragmatic.

There was little I had not seen before among the fishing baskets in the museum but I was taken with this Northern Lighthouse Board transit basket (also made of rattan though described only as 'wicker' on the label) which was used to haul provisions up into lighthouses until very recently. The label also said these baskets were used because they were much lighter to haul up than the alternative wooden box. It might have been a way for the lighthouse keepers to avoid the stairs too, it was big and sturdy enough. Would I have preferred to be hauled up into a light house in the teeth of a gale in a basket or a wooden box ? I suppose it depends who made the basket and whether the box was made on a Friday afternoon or not! Personally I think either would be pretty scary.

The transit basket is no longer needed now as British light houses are all empty and automated, but it could have been a sustainable and cheap mode of transport - and definitely quite slow.

Books, Libraries and a little bit of Magic

Urban baskets is currently on show in two libraries in Wales, Ruthin (above) and Denbigh (below) and it pleases me a lot that the work is being seen in  publicly funded spaces, but  for how much longer will  libraries in England and Wales  be able to afford to dedicate some of their space to galleries?  Many of them are currently battling to keep open and maintain their primary activity of lending books, for free, to the local community. It therefore seems highly unlikely that budgets for galleries within them will be considered a priority.

Tim Johnson, a British artist who finds much of his inspiration in baskets, wrote on his blog recently about  borrowing  Dorothy Wright's "The Complete Book of Baskets and Basketmaking"( ISBN 0 88914 055 3) and the influence that it had on his subsequent career. In so doing he described my own experience exactly. http://www.timjohnsonartist.com/blog/the-story-of-a-book-a-basket-and-why-i-love-libraries.html

It was the only book on the subject of basket making that I found in St. Martins art college library. I kept it out on loan  for months, endlessly re reading passages on my way to and from the sculpture studios by bus. There was, for me, an urgent  desire to discover how an unruly and apparently worthless twig, vine or leaf could be manipulated by human hands  into something of use or beauty, or both, and  I spent many hours trying to decode  the arcane knowledge that  the black and white illustrations seemed to be guarding. I don't think  Dorothy would have approved of the consequences of my in depth study, as she didn't seem to approve of  'arty' experimentation with basketry techniques.  But, the life size  figure of a man that I wove out of centre cane, with her unknowing assistance, was the catalyst for the direction I have taken since then, and I would like to think that my work now shows as much respect for the tradition as her writing did then.

It is impossible to say whether the same thing could have happened  by using the internet instead of borrowing a book. What is certain is that not all books in libraries will be digitised, and many of those on basket making that I have looked at are treasures from another era that went out of print many years ago.  "The Basket Maker" by Luther Weston Turner 1909 is a little gem, perfectly formed and with an almost cinematic aesthetic that shows us clearly that basket making really is the stuff of magic, a deft shoot of the cuffs and 'hey presto' - a basket!

Fortunately, the two libraries where Urban Baskets is currently on show are not in imminent danger and the exhibition continues at both venues until the 12th March. Please go and see it, if you are in the area, and sign the visitors book because  it is in some small way a petition to save these library galleries for future exhibitions.

All library photos thanks to Shani Rhys-James friend and super painter.  See her at work here http://www.axisweb.org/atATCL.aspx?AID=782

Plaiting, Twining, Nets and Knots

After a few winter months in the countryside teaching in Paris made a very welcome break. Born in London and having lived in one of its more challenging areas for 32 years, I realise now that the old axiom that ‘you can take the girl out of the city but not the city out of the girl’ is probably true. I am not fussy about where I get my fix but Paris is as good as, if not better than most of the ones that I have visited.

The week started with a five o’clock alarm. A different sort of alarm took hold on finding the car windscreen needed more than a credit card to clear the ice which resulted in a mad dash to the station chasing the lights of the train pulling into the station ahead of me. Leaping breathless and triumphant into a carriage, I then discovered that the train would wait there ten minutes before departure. I have obviously lost my city nonchalance but no one sniggered openly which they would have done in London.

Five hours and two changes later I eventually arrived at the Gare d’Austerlitz. Walking to the college, the traffic seemed less frantic than I remember and there were bicycles everywhere. I bought a sandwich from a boulangerie, which is another improvement, it used to be only possible to buy a sandwich sitting at a table in a bar or bistro. Now there are small canteens and sandwich bars everywhere selling good and cheap food and the bistros are struggling to compete. 


Eating my sandwich on a bench in the sunshine my delight at being there must have shown because I soon found myself engaged in conversation by a disarming and amusing Tunisian author with glossy jet-black ringlets and a tweed trilby. His name was Adem and when he invited me to be his 'Eve' for the afternoon I politely made my excuses and headed for the college.

As mentioned in the previous post the students in the Design Textile department at ENSCI  work on looms creating fabric designs, so my intervention was something very different for them. It provided an opportunity for all three years to work together and gave them a break from the very intensive work that they normally do. Only one of the students had done any basket making before, which she did with me two years ago, and I was  pleased to have her back in the class as she had been a very creative student last time. 

 I teach basket-making techniques and material skills because I believe it is important to preserve this ancient and universal knowledge by handing it on to whoever is interested in learning. I do not instruct students in what to do with these skills. That is, I believe, for them to discover and for them to choose. For me there is a parallel with vocabulary, the more words you know the better you are able to express yourself and make the purpose of your speech or writing clear. With basket-making, the more techniques  you have mastered the more capable you are of choosing the most appropriate one for whatever it is you wish to do or make. I also find that once the students have grasped the basics of a technique they naturally become more inventive and creative without me ever instructing them how to be so. It is the confidence that comes with learning a new skill that seems to give them the courage to try something different and it never fails to delight me.

At the end of the week the students displayed their work and I asked them to tell me and each other what they had discovered during the week, what had worked for them and what had not. Interestingly the thing most of them found really exciting was having created something they considered worthwhile out of newspaper. It was the magic of making something from nothing and I could not have been more pleased

The week also brought the pleasure of seeing friends and staying in the house of a man who is in his 101^st year. It seemed an honour to have the chance to meet a centenarian who is also fit and healthy and only stopped driving a couple of months ago. It is known that genetics play a huge part in longevity but it also came as no surprise to learn that he takes a cold shower every morning, exercises every day, keeps his mind active, goes to bed early and has always eaten simply and healthily.

With this lesson playing on my mind I went on to London and out to Essex for a family birthday party weekend,  little sleep and plenty of alcohol,  though I did manage a stroll in the very picturesque Maldon before going to the pub  ….. my days are definitely numbered.

Off to Paris

Coiling samples  done by Designer Textile students at ENSCI Paris 2009

Next week I will be teaching in Paris at the Ecole Nationale Superiere de Creation Industrielle, or ENSCI as it is known, where I will be working with the students in the Designer Textile department. It will be my third visit to the College and I am looking forward to it. You can read about the department here: http://www.ensci.com/designer-textile/presentation/mission/ . 

The students will be learning plaiting and twining techniques, which they will use to produce designs for a container. Usually these students work on looms with incredibly fine yarns creating textile designs for couture and interiors and they seem to like working on a miniature scale.  Last time there were occasions when a student asked me if they had done something correctly and I couldn't see whether they had or not because the sample was no bigger than my thumbnail and the threads she was using were no thicker than a baby's hair.  

They are working towards a "conteneur de volume" this year and I got some new glasses today, both should help!

Plaiting samples  done by Designer Textile students at ENSCI Paris 2009

Willows, Water and Woods

A descendant moon in the dormant season signifies that it is the moment to harvest the willows, so that has been the task of the week. Coincidentally it has also been a week of discussion about the British Governments desire to sell off the remaining publicly owned woodlands of England to pay off some of the national debt, and  in a strange way the two have become connected.

The land the willows grow on belongs to my neighbour. Having cut down some large poplars that were being cultivated there for timber, he had no further plans for the land and offered it to us for planting willow and we gratefully accepted. That was nearly 20 years ago and only a quarter of the available space was planted at that time, but it has been added to every year since. It now measures about 12 metres by 6 and has several varieties that have survived out of the 50 plus that have been tried there.

Willow bed January 2011 looking East

It used to be a real pleasure to go down to the willows on a sunny winters day.  A stand of scrubby trees on the north side of the plot gave protection from cold winds which, together with a mini wood of ash trees choked with wild clematis on the eastern side, created a warm micro-climate where you could work unfettered by layers of thick clothing or gloves.

Stream January 2011

Running along side the willow bed was a stream that originated from a small bubbling source and because the water was always there I pitted the willows for peeling in it.  It was an oasis set amongst the mixed  landscape of fields  and the little strips of potager.

Willows pitted in stream January 2000

Things began to change several  years ago. As the older villagers died so their  potagers were ploughed  into the fields, their children choosing to buy their vegetables rather than grow them. Then the trees on the north side that provided our micro climate were chopped, and the searing  north winds that often blow on sunny winter days now makes working there unpleasant. Last winter it seemed that every time we went to the plot a tractor would appear grinding noisily up and down the field spraying some noxious powder over the land and, with the aid of the north wind, us and our organically grown willows too. (This article confirms my fears.) .http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/wine/8274192/French-winegrowers-warned-over-pesticide-use.html

By August the track to the willows had become a canyon in between the giant brutish  maize plants that bear no relation to their delicate  South American ancestors and which are apparently always thirsty. The indigenous agri-business method for quenching this thirst appears to be astonishingly stupid.  The water is pumped up from the water table and then often on a really hot day sprayed high into the air over the maize from a giant sprinkler in the hope that some of it reaches the ground. According to R.D.P.E statistics  http://www.eau-poitou-charentes.org/usages/Usage-et-consequences,24.html  it takes 500-1,000 litres of irrigated water to make 1kg of maize. This maize, which is unfit for human consumption,  is  fed to the pigs that live in sheds, never seeing the light of day or feeling sun on their skin, and which end up in pieces in the supermarkets "foires des porcs" of January at about 2€ a kilo. How do the sums add up, pork that is cheaper per kilo than cabbages?

Dry stream September 2010

It is hardly  surprising then that last year for the first time we saw a gaping hole in the dry stream bed where the spring should have been, and it wasn't until November that  water started to bubble up again.
Needless to say it  wasn't a good willow harvest.

Reflecting on all this in the biting wind with freezing fingers trying to grasp the secateurs, I began to tell myself that we should stop doing this work.  It is not much fun and  I don't really need the willows, there are plenty of other available materials that I can use to make baskets with, but if we stop cultivating this little plot  the trees surrounding it will be cut and the maize will be moved in. It struck me then that the only difference between Brazilian deforestation and the European version is that we have already done it.

Here is a link to a petition to halt the sell off of Englands publicly owned woodlands http://www.38degrees.org.uk/page/s/save-our-forests#petition Thank you Barbara.

'Urban Baskets' unpacked in North Wales

'Urban Baskets' opens this weekend at two venues in North Wales where it will be on show  until March 12th. The exhibition has been divided between the Denbigh and Ruthin Library Galleries and details of the opening hours can be found here.http://www.eventsnorthwales.co.uk/events/6899/lois-walpole--urbanbaskets-tradition-recycled

Sadly, I will not have a chance to visit either venue, or to run any workshops, due to the ongoing financial constraints that are currently squeezing the cultural life out of Britain so, if you have a chance to visit either venue please tell me about it!