2009 May » Willow Basketmaker

Farmers market

May 282009

Katherine at the Mount Vernon Farmers' Market

This Saturday is the start of our local farmers market. Katherine likes to set up a booth at the market a few times each year, especially the opening day. It’s an opportunity to see local friends and market her baskets and basketmaking classes. Besides she has invested in the markets success with her volunteer efforts as a past board member.She likes to bring her weaving set-up and some willows to work on a basket. Demonstrating her craft always generates interest in her baskets.

Our involvement with farmers markets goes back to 1983. We were twenty somethings working for an organic farm out near Sequim, Washington. We were getting a funky house to live in and food from the farm, but our only cash income had to be generated from a farmers market. Of course, we were given a small local market to attend by the guy we were working for. Sequim has a large retiree population so there were a lot of early risers on Saturday morning. We had to be set up for sales by 6:30 AM and by 9:30 we were usually the only ones left in the parking lot! These were the days before it was hip for the younger crowd with families to go to the farmers market.

Later in our “career”, when we had our own farm we went to one of the country’s historical market places – the Pike Place Market in Seattle. In the late ’80s and 90′s, organic produce was still relatively new to the market. Some of the vendors didn’t even believe we were growing such a wide selection of good looking vegetables and herbs. Katherine always put on a nice display in the small 8 foot table that growers were allotted. She even managed to get featured in an article in Sunset magazine in 1994 called “The farmers market frenzy”. Excerpting from the article: “This is the eighth year Katherine Lewis and Steven Lospalluto have sold produce at Pike Place Public Market in Seattle…They are part of a new breed that has chosen farming as a way of life…Today, Lospalluto picks corn and has the truck loaded by 5 A.M. Then Lewis makes two restaurant deliveries and arrives at the market by 7. She’s assigned to a spot she’s had often in the day stalls…With some help, Lewis lays out a display of squash blossoms, beans, celeriac, candystripe beets, zucchini, and other vegetables and herbs–about 20 kinds, from parsley to lemon verbena. Everything is organically grown…Lewis and Lospalluto have sold at weekend markets in Sequim and Puyallup, but prefer Pike Place, which has a week-long schedule (they’re there four times weekly, in season) and a clientele very interested in food.” (written by Jena MacPherson)

photo by Rex Rystedt from Sunset magazine

The photo is a scan from the Sunset article and taken in September of 1993. (Back then we marketed under the farm name Lombrici’s.) That’s Chris Allen on the right who worked some market days with Katherine (yes that’s Katherine on the left). Chris still lives in Seattle and works for Murdock and White in the specialty foods business.

But those long days! We haven’t sold produce at farmers’ market for about four years. These days we sell our vegetables, apples, and other garden goodies here on our small farm. It is a lot easier to pack up the willow baskets and necessary market booth stuff and head down to our local market. Besides, these days there is a growing number of farms heading to the farmers market with their farm fresh goods. But not too many willow basketmakers!

Grant writing workshop

Skagit Artists Together No Responses »

May 202009

SAT grant writing workshop

This past Sunday we went to a grant writing workshop sponsored by Skagit Artists Together. Katherine is a member of SAT and had suggested awhile back a workshop on grant applications which she agreed to organize. Fortunately there is an outstanding organization called Artist Trust which is dedicated to supporting Washington State artists that offers workshops. Monica Miller, Director of Programs, agreed to come up to Skagit County to present a two hour program on building a strong grant application.

Monica Miller of Artist Trust

One of the reasons Katherine dragged me along was to take a few photos to include with an article for the SAT newsletter. But that didn’t work out too well. I’ll blame it on the black walls and dark gallery space. Hopefully I can take better photos of Katherine’s work! One of the take home messages was the importance of the images submitted for any grant, or juried show for that matter. Grants administered by Artist Trust request ten images of an applicant’s work. These images are shown to the jurors two at a time for about four seconds during the first screening. Those first four images (two sets) are very important in capturing the interest of the people saying yea or nay. It is important to have a neutral background that doesn’t distract from the work, and to present a cohesive set of images that depict current work. While the images or work samples are most important in determining recipients, the panel’s perception of the artist’s ability to complete the grant project is also critical. It helps to have a concise project description with a catchy title. As to those artist statements that everyone struggles with, avoid the “artspeak”. Be simple, concise, and direct. Monica suggested an exercise of writing down twenty adjectives to describe your work; then picking out three of them to use that are desciptive and unique to your work. Artist Trust has a wealth of information for artists on funding, business, portfolio, marketing, legal, and more. Their website is a great resource.

The Conway Muse

The workshop was hosted at an eclectic arts venue and coffee shop called The Conway Muse in Conway in the south end of Skagit County. SAT holds its monthly meetings here. Check out their website for a calendar of events.

Exhibit of Basketry Teachers

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May 132009

panier a jour by Katherine Lewis

This oval panier a jour, or French market basket, was submitted for an exhibit of baskets woven by basketry teachers. Katherine was invited by Joanna Schanz of the Broom & Basket Shop to submit an example of her work for this exhibit at the Philip Dickel Basket Museum and Gallery in the Amana Colonies in Iowa. Each year they have an exhibit to celebrate basketry, and this year’s theme is basketry teachers and their classes across the US. The exhibit will be open from May 24 to October 5, 2009.

inside view of panier a jour

This traditional French basket is one of Katherine’s favorites. The basket is made using the techniques of scalloming and fitching. In 2006 Katherine traveled to France to spend a week in Villaines-les-Rocher at the Basketmakers’ Cooperative to take a course with Norbert Faure. The oval and square panier a jours were the baskets she focused on with Norbert. Despite her limited French, she learned a great deal.

view from above

Here is an excerpt from Katherine’s ‘about the artist’ statement for the exhibit:

Katherine Lewis is a basketmaker in the Pacific Northwest where she has been weaving willow for seventeen years. She has a small farm near Mount Vernon, Washington where she grows the willow used in her baskets allowing her to choose the quality, color, and texture of her weaving materials. Katherine’s goal is to weave willow baskets that are functional and durable while reflecting the natural beauty of the willows. She has studied with accomplished basketmakers from England, Switzerland, France, and Scotland; including traveling twice to the UK and France to tutor with basketmakers, tour the willow growing areas, and learn more about the willow basketmaking traditions. Her instructors have included Adrian Charlton, Jenny Crisp, Sally Goymer, Norbert Faure, Alastair Heseltine, and Werner Turtschi. An extensive background in traditional European techniques coupled with willow growing has given her the abilities and inspiration to pursue this traditional craft with her own vision.

P.S. You can click on the photos for a little larger view.

Laundry baskets

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May 112009

oval willow laundry basket with inset handles

I know it sounds boring – a post about laundry baskets. But hauling laundry is one task that almost everyone has to do and a basket is still a good tool for the task. So why not choose a willow basket that is both durable and attractive. The oval laundry basket with inset handles is my favorite.

basic round laundry basket

The basic round laundry basket with roped handles is based on a Swiss potato basket. Actually, many of the forms that Katherine uses for laundry baskets are influenced by the willow basketry classes that she took from Werner Turtschi. Werner is an excellent teacher who came to the Pacific Northwest a number of times. The great thing about the roped handles is that they can be replaced if they are damaged or wear out. By the way, “roped” refers to the technique not material of the handles.

Christie's colorful laundry basket

Some people would like a larger basket to accommodate larger or more than one loads. The basket above was made for one of our neighbors who wanted many colors in the basket especially the purples and reds. She wanted a larger basket but her doorways made it necessary to go tall rather than wide. The basket below was made for a customer in Massachusetts who wanted a basket large enough to carry two wet loads of laundry back from the laundromat to the home clothesline.

two load laundry basket

Finally there is the square basket. These are very nice for the folded laundry, though they can be a bit large for navigating doors and halls.

square willow laundry basket

After you get the basket for the laundry room, you’ll need a hamper for the dirty clothes!

willow clothes hampers

Like always, you can find out more about Katherine’s baskets at our website.

May basket class

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May 062009

May 2-3 willow basketry class

This past weekend Katherine hosted one of her willow basketry classes. 9 out of 10 students had already taken at least one of Katherine’s classes. As Katherine said everyone could twine, everyone could wale, and several are on the verge of really getting the border. Good thing because the projects were a choice between an oval laundry basket or a garden basket. Both start with a similar oval base using twining and chase weaves. The sides of the basket include a sturdy 4 rod base wale with step up to 3 rod wale. The side weave is French randing. The laundry basket is taller and straighter and finished with inset handles while the garden basket flares out more and has a wrapped handle. You can see by the photo that some nice willow baskets were woven and they’re still smiling!

You can see the listing of future willow basketmaking classes on our website.

Suffusion theme by Sayontan Sinha

Farmers market

Grant writing workshop

Exhibit of Basketry Teachers

Laundry baskets

May basket class

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