Category Archives: exhibits

Exploring Baskets

Posted on by
1

Exploring Baskets postcard

Exploring Baskets is a show of work by members of the Northwest Basket Weavers Guild exhibited in Anacortes, WA from December 3, 2010 to January 29, 2011. There are over 60 pieces by 22 guild members and the show’s two jurors Lanny Bergner and Danielle Bodine.  Several of the artists are nationally known for their work in contemporary basketry.

willow basket by Katherine Lewis

'Piece of cake' by Katherine Lewis

Katherine was excited when an Anacortes gallery asked her about a possible show with the NWBW Guild. She never thought it would be a “piece of cake”, but it’s not easy to imagine all the hours of work that will be needed to organize a group exhibit. There is getting the info out to the members, collecting applications, formatting the images and descriptions for the jury, lining up the jurors,  notifying all the applicants of the decisions, printing postcards, press releases, printing the identification labels for the work, inventory sheets for the gallery, artist name tags, artist statements, making cards to promote the organization, receiving work, transporting it all to the gallery, wrangling pedestals and display cases, finally arranging the art in the gallery, staffing the opening weekend, organizing basket day classes, tracking the event budget, not to mention staffing the gallery on Saturdays because the gallery has cut back on hours due to budget cuts.

Exploring Baskets opening

But the rewards came when the show was up, and the exhibit opened on Friday. Guild members showed up to view their own work and that of weavers they know and admire. The Anacortes First Friday Art Walk always brings out a crowd, and locals were visibly impressed with the quality and diversity of the art and craft.

Thanks go to quite a few people for volunteering their efforts to the exhibit. Katherine Lewis and Kay Ogren were the primary organizers, but they had great help from Mary Irvine, Dorothy McGuinness, Alex Keggan, Heidi Brewer-Peters, Carolyn Swain, Dianne Corso, Lanny Bergner, Claudia Mullek, Sharle Osborne and Jan Smith. The artists all paid a small application fee to enter the show, but the NWBW Guild is still contributing funds to put on the event and receives no part of the gallery commissions on sales.  Katherine has certainly received quite a few appreciative comments since the opening, and she wants everyone in the Guild to share in the success.

Katherine Lewis baskets

'Harvesting the Skagit' and 'Panier a Jour'

Artists included in the show are Sally Anaya, Mary Auld, Lanny Bergner,Danielle Bodine,Heidi Brewer-Peters, David Chambers, Deb Curtis, Jill Green, Mary Irvine, Marcy Johnson, Sharon Kita, Vicki Lash, Katherine Lewis, Dorothy McGuinness, Marilyn Moore, Claudia Mullek, Sharle Osborne, Carolyn Reznikoff, Bill Roeder, Polly Sutton, Elaine Twogood, Melinda West, Sheila Wray and Judy Zugish. Katherine has four baskets in the juried exhibit. Her work is certainly the most functional form represented in this show. (Three of her baskets are in the above photos. Don’t worry, you can see other people’s work in the slideshow below!)

basket day class

Another reward of all the work was seeing new people interested in the craft give it a try. The opening weekend also included a ‘Holiday Basket Day’ on Saturday. Members of the guild taught some hands on basketry with activities available for children and adults. Teachers included Sheila Wray, Elaine Twogood, Kay Harradine, Mary Auld and Karen Samdahl. It was especially fun to watch a couple of the children weave so well that they finished very nice baskets before their adult companions did.

Katherine Lewis weaving willow basket

Katherine was happy to demonstrate her willow basketry work for gallery visitors. People are always amazed at her ability to weave slender willow withies with a few hand tools into a beautiful, functional basket.

With the show up for nearly two months, there is plenty of opportunity to see this outstanding display. The gallery hours are Tuesday-Friday: 12:30-5:00, Saturday: 1:00-4:00. All the work is for sale, and there are additional baskets for sale by the same artists in a non-juried area. I uploaded photos from the opening weekend to our Flickr.com account. There are plenty of views of most of the baskets in the exhibit. Enjoy a slideshow:

[vodpod id=Video.5064736&w=425&h=350&fv=offsite%3Dtrue%26amp%3Blang%3Den-us%26amp%3Bflickr_notracking%3Dtrue%26amp%3Bflickr_target%3D_self%26amp%3Bnsid%3D21288426%40N05%26amp%3BtextV%3D66488%26amp%3Bispro%3D1%26amp%3B%26amp%3Bset_id%3D72157625531121878%26amp%3Bpage_show_back_url%3D%2Fphotos%2Fdunbargardens%2Fsets%2F72157625531121878%2F%26amp%3Bpage_show_url%3D%2Fphotos%2Fdunbargardens%2Fsets%2F72157625531121878%2Fshow%2F%26amp%3BminH%3D100%26amp%3BminW%3D100]

Anacortes Arts Festival “Next”

Posted on by
1

Arts at the Port postcard

The 2010 Anacortes Arts Festival starts with the Arts at the Port opening Friday, July 30, 5:30-8:00 pm. Katherine is excited to have four baskets chosen for the open juried show entitled “Next”. Juried by Esther Luttikhuizen, the exhibit showcases work from 32 artists each displaying 3 to 5 pieces. The exhibit includes painting, photography, sculpture, and fine crafts from Northwest artists. The opening Friday evening will be the first chance to see the work and meet the artists as well as enjoy food, wine, and entertainment in a great venue on the waterfront. Katherine plans on attending. You can see a slide show of all the work in the exhibit on the Anacortes Arts Festival website.

Anacortes Arts Festival willow baskets by Katherine Lewis

These are the four baskets by Katherine Lewis to be exhibited at the Arts at the Port show.

Art of the Garden in Everett

Posted on by
Reply
blue willow rope coil

blue willow rope coil

Katherine will be showing four baskets at the upcoming exhibit “Art of the Garden” presented by the Arts Council of Snohomish County at the Gallery at the historic Monte Cristo in Everett, Washington July 8-August 19, 2010. Over fifty artists will display work inspired by the garden or to bring the garden into the home. There will be work in a wide variety of mediums including glass, ceramics, painting , photography, and basketry. You can see the full list of artists on the Arts Council website.

Irish willow potato basket

Irish potato basket

Katherine’s work includes this traditional Irish potato basket form made from some of the colorful willows we grow on the farm. The basket at the top of the post is a Scottish rope coil made from Salix daphnoides; an interesting looking blue willow that is difficult to work with. She also included a basket that is not only made from the garden, but one you can use to harvest the garden.

willow flower gathering basket

willow garden basket

There will be an opening reception on Thursday, July 8 from 5 to 8pm to meet the artists and see the work. The event is free to the public. The gallery is located at 1507 Wall Street in downtown Everett. Hours are Monday-Friday 10-5 and Saturday 11-4. The art work is for sale.

willow tray

willow tray

NBO exhibit at The Bascom

Posted on by
1

fitched willow market basket

Katherine was recently invited to send some of her work to an exhibit of National Basketry Organization members at The Bascom, a non-profit center for the visual arts in Highlands, North Carolina. The Bascom art center is located on 6 acres of beautiful pastoral land with buildings that encompass museum quality galleries and art studios for instruction. Artistic Director Kaye Gorecki worked with NBO President Michael Davis to select a few basketmakers to showcase in a small exhibit June 12-July 18. Katherine was honored to be chosen along side some outstanding artists that included  Jackie Abrams, JoAnn Kelly Catsos, JoAnn Russo, Donya Stockton, and Pamela Zimmerman.

An exhibit of contemporary basketmakers should be a nice compliment to another work at The Bascom. Beginning June 2, sculptor  Patrick Dougherty is constructing a site specific work on The Bascom grounds. He has made his unique structures all over the world. Katherine had the opportunity to volunteer a couple of days on a work he made in Lynden, Washington a few years ago.willow basket purse by Katherine Lewis

Katherine only had a week’s notice to decide what to send. Unfortunately there was no time to make anything specifically for the exhibit, so she picked out these two baskets to send. The oval market basket or “panier á jour” is woven primarily with our farm “‘brown” (with bark) willow and “buff” (peeled) willow for the fitching. It is a traditional French design, but woven with the “browns” rather than all peeled. The small square purse is an original design woven from willow with a braided leather strap. Katherine hopes viewers will appreciate these functional forms of contemporary basketry.

Post Script: Well there are good experiences and there are learning experiences…

crushed box

This is how our box looked when it returned from the exhibit. The Bascom sent it back by UPS ground. When we opened the box we saw that the ‘panier á jour’ had been packed incorrectly – upright instead of sideways and without the cardboard baffles like when we shipped it by FedEx. The Bascom’s exhibitions registrar replied to our complaint “I want to assure you that it was not done through carelessness.” Really? It seemed like a double dose of carelessness from the packer and UPS. And we end up with a basket that is decidedly tweaked in shape.
Most of our boxes only go one way – direct to the customer and we’ve never had a basket damaged in shipping. I guess we should have been reading the helpful info over on Ask Harriete about packing your artwork for delivery to and return from exhibits. Chalk it up as a learning experience.

MoNA Style 2010

Posted on by
6
Basketmaker Katherine Lewis

Katherine sets up her display at MoNA Style

Katherine just participated in MoNA Style 2010. The Museum of Northwest Art in La Conner, WA hosts an annual wearable art show and sale featuring clothing, jewelry, and items for the home. This year’s event featured forty Northwest artists as well as a cafe and fashion shows at local restaurants. The event is one of the fundraisers for the museum each year. This year’s silent auction theme was “Lingerie”. There was a variety of work in ceramics, fiber, metal, and painting. At the end of last year’s show the theme was announced and Katherine decided to create a piece.

artist Katherine Lewis

Katherine’s goal was to make the piece only with willow, which she did except the small amount of thread used in sewing the skirt. There are several different willows used with the natural colors of green, red, and orange. The skirt is made from willow bark which was cut into strips and sewn to a bark waist band which is attached to the top with bark also. The corset part has bark strips to tie it together in the back. The front uses a colorful zig zag weave while the sides were woven with a fitching technique for an open look. The photo above of Katherine with her work was taken by friend and ceramist Dinah Steveni. Below is a slide show of images of the work from several sides and details taken by Steve.

[vodpod id=Video.3113146&w=425&h=350&fv=offsite%3Dtrue%26amp%3Blang%3Den-us%26amp%3Bflickr_notracking%3Dtrue%26amp%3Bflickr_target%3D_self%26amp%3Bnsid%3D21288426%40N05%26amp%3BtextV%3D66488%26amp%3Bispro%3D1%26amp%3B%26amp%3Bset_id%3D72157623498254478%26amp%3Bpage_show_back_url%3D%2Fphotos%2Fdunbargardens%2Fsets%2F72157623498254478%2F%26amp%3Bpage_show_url%3D%2Fphotos%2Fdunbargardens%2Fsets%2F72157623498254478%2Fshow%2F%26amp%3BminH%3D100%26amp%3BminW%3D100]