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March 2012 newsletter

Mar 122012

News

Katherine was honored to be informed that three of her baskets were recently acquired by the Renwick Gallery at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. In 2011, Katherine made several baskets for collectors Steven Cole and Martha Ware. They have a large collection of baskets made by American basketmakers from materials that they collect or grow themselves with an emphasis on functional or traditional design. Their collection includes the work of some impressive artisans including Darryl & Karen Arawjo, JoAnn Kelly Catsos, Jeffrey Gale, Jonathan Kline, Dona Look, Leon Niehues, Alice Ogden, JoAnne Russo, Aaron Yakim & Cynthia Taylor, and Jamin Uticone. Some of the willow basketmakers represented are Jennifer Heller Zurich, Joanna Schanz, Jo Campbell-Amsler, Bill Roeder, Jean Gage, and Lisa Head. Steve and Martha have recently donated a significant number of their collection to the Smithsonian where they are preparing an exhibit of the baskets at the Renwick Gallery in fall, 2013. You can see Katherine’s baskets included in the collection on the Smithsonian website here: http://americanart.si.edu/collections/search/artwork/results/?id=30089 You can click on the hyperlink name of each basket to be able to view larger images of the work. Below is one of the baskets in the collection. We actually prefer this view of the basket to the one posted on the Smithsonian’s site.

Steve Cole's Rope Coil

Upcoming Events

MoNA Style 2012: Museum of Northwest Art in La Conner, WA, March 17, 2012. This annual show features wearable art and home furnishings from Northwest artisans. Part of each sale helps support the museum. Katherine will be there with willow baskets along with 30 plus vendors of handmade creations.

“Willow Knot” Basket exhibit: Philip Dickel Basket Exhibit Museum Gallery in Amana, Iowa, April 2 – September 29, 2012. Katherine made the willow purse below for this annual exhibit organized by Joanna Schanz of the Broom and Basket Shop in West Amana. The willow knot refers to the large willow rod that is wrapped around a willow bundle and ‘cranked’ until it resembles a knot. Katherine added a pair of tiny knots as embellishments to this purse.

Willow Basketmaking Classes with Katherine Lewis

March 14 -15, 2012: Northwest Basketweavers Guild Spring Retreat: Katherine will be teaching a “Double border tray” at this year’s retreat. See the Guild’s website for full details.

June 1-3, 2012: Willow Weekend in Entiat, Washington: This weekend event in eastern Washington organized by Claudia Mullek will feature workshops by Judy Zugish, Jo Campbell-Amsler, and Katherine Lewis. Katherine will be teaching a two day class in which people can weave either a round gathering basket or an oval garden basket. There are still places available in this class. Friday evening will feature presentations by the three artists about their work. You can find details and a registration form here in this pdf on our website.

Katherine is expecting to post some dates for classes at Dunbar Gardens for late summer. We’ll be sending another email out in late spring with updates.

Willow cuttings

It’s the time of year to order willow cuttings. We have a nice selection of varieties for planting listed on our website. Depending on your location, March through mid May is a good time to plant. There are planting tips on the website. If you need advice or have questions, send Steve an email.

Facebook: Dunbar Gardens has a Facebook page. We post photos of Katherine’s latest baskets, commissions, and photos of the farm. You don’t have to be a Facebook user to visit our page and look at the photo albums we have posted there.

For more information about classes, baskets, willow growing, or our farmstand please visit our website. Thanks!

Katherine & Steve

January 2012 newsletter

Dunbar Gardens 2 Responses »

Jan 042012

Happy New Year!

Four views of a basket by Katherine Lewis

We hope your new year is off to a good start. 2011 was a busy year for us. As many of you know, Katherine made a six week trip to Europe to visit basketry festivals, basketmakers, museums, and study willow basketry to improve her skills and knowledge of the craft. See below for information about her upcoming presentation in Seattle on the trip. After getting back, Katherine made several new pieces for Art’s Alive (November 4-6) in La Conner where she was invited to participate in the ‘Emerging Artists’ exhibit. Then we were fortunate to get a mention in a Rita Konig column in the Wall Street Journal about log baskets and fireplaces. Next thing Katherine knew she had a waiting list of orders. Although it is nice to be busy, Katherine hopes to spend time this spring concentrating on work inspired by her trip.

Log baskets with different weaves: French randing, slewing, cat, English randing

Upcoming Events

Baskets in Europe, 2011: Katherine Lewis presentation to the Northwest Basket Weavers’ Guild, January 11, 2012, 6:30PM, Shoreline Unitarian Church, 14724 1st Avenue NE Shoreline, WA. Katherine will be presenting a program about the three basketry festivals she attended in Europe in 2011. She will show photos and discuss the three festivals in Vallabregues, France; Nowy Tomysl, Poland; and Lichtenfels, Germany. Each festival was unique in both basketmakers and staging of the event. She will also bring baskets that she purchased from some other willow basketmakers. Everyone is welcome to attend. Katherine’s program will begin at 7:30, but baskets and other trip souvenirs will be available for viewing at 6:30.

Fête de la Vannerie à Vallabrègues

Artist Trust Benefit Art Auction: Fisher Pavilion at Seattle Center, February 25, 2012. Annual event to benefit Artist Trust which supports Washington artists of all disciplines through grants and career training programs. Katherine received a $1500 grant from Artist Trust to help fund her study with basketmaker David Drew in September, 2011. Katherine is donating one of her baskets for the auction.

willow rope coil basket by Katherine Lewis

"whirlpool" by Katherine Lewis

MoNA Style 2012: Museum of Northwest Art, La Conner, WA, March 17, 2012. This annual show features wearable art and home furnishings from Northwest artisans. Part of each sale helps support the museum. Katherine will be there with willow baskets along with 40 other vendors of handmade creations.

Willow Basketmaking Classes with Katherine Lewis

March 14 -15, 2012: Northwest Basketweavers Guild Spring Retreat: Katherine will be teaching one 10 hour class “Double border tray” at this coming year’s retreat. See the Guild’s website for full details. Unfortunately, the Guild is only offering one class by Katherine this year. Want more willow classes at retreat? Make it known to the retreat committee.

June 1-3, 2012: Willow Weekend in Entiat, Washington: This weekend event in eastern Washington organized by Claudia Mullek will feature workshops by Judy Zugish, Jo Campbell-Amsler, and Katherine Lewis. Katherine will be teaching a two day class in which people can weave either a round gathering basket or an oval garden basket. Friday evening will feature presentations by the three artists about their work. You can find details and a registration form here in this pdf on our website.

Willow Gathering 2012 in Decorah, Iowa, June 21-26, 2012: Katherine has been invited to teach in Iowa at this workshop organized by Jo Campbell-Amsler and Lee Zieke Lee. She will be teaching three two-day classes: rope coil, scallomed oval baskets, and Irish potato basket. For those of you who live in the Midwest this will be a great opportunity to take one or more of Katherine’s classes. Also teaching at the event will be Sandy Whalen and Donna Kallner. The organizers expect the classes to fill well in advance. Information and registrations are available through Jo Campbell-Amsler. See the brochure.

Katherine is expecting to post some dates for classes at Dunbar Gardens for late summer. We’ll be sending another email out later in the spring with updates.

Willow cuttings

Lincon's Sparrow

Facebook: Dunbar Gardens has a Facebook page. We post photos of Katherine’s latest baskets, commissions, and photos of the farm as well as other links of interest for willow basketry.

For more information about classes, baskets, willow growing, or our farmstand please visit our website. Thanks!

Katherine & Steve

August 2011 newsletter

Dunbar Gardens 2 Responses »

Aug 012011

Upcoming Events

Harvesting the Skagit

18th Juried Art Show at the Schack Art Center (Arts Council of Snohomish County): Everett, WA, June 30 – August 25, 2011. Katherine has one basket – “Harvesting the Skagit” – entered in this biennial exhibit of Northwest artists represented in a wide variety of mediums. Katherine’s piece received an honorable mention in the juror’s awards.

Anacortes Arts Festival – ‘Experience Art’: Anacortes, WA, August 6-7, 2011, 10am – 4pm. Katherine has been invited to be in the ‘Working Artists’ demonstration area. The AAF is one of western Washington’s best arts and crafts festivals. As part of the 50th anniversary of the festival, they will be expanding the number of artists presenting and demonstrating their work in this area at the north end of Commercial Avenue. Come watch and talk with Katherine about her work.

Nana Queen

All Things Considered VI – National Basketry Organization Juried Exhibit at the Fuller Craft Museum: Brockton, Massachusetts, July 30-December 12, 2011. This biennial exhibit highlights the diversity of contemporary and traditional basketry in the US. There will be 48 invitational pieces and 37 pieces juried by Bruce Pepich and Ann McMullen. Katherine is excited to have her piece ‘Nana Queen’ juried into the show. There will a catalog of the exhibit published by the NBO.

Festival of Family Farms at Gordon Skagit Farms: October 1-2, 2011. 10am-4pm, 15598 McLean Rd., Mount Vernon (just around the corner from Dunbar Gardens). Katherine will be demonstrating willow basketmaking and selling baskets at the Gordon’s Autumn Harvest Farmstand as part of the annual Skagit Valley farm tour.

thirteen branches

Art’s Alive! 2011: Maple Hall, La Conner, WA, November 4-6, 2011. Katherine has been invited to participate in the “Emerging Artists” Exhibit this year. She will have several pieces on display for sale. The opening will be Friday, Nov. 4, 6-9pm. There is a wonderful selection of artists in the invitational and emerging artists’ shows. There will be many artists exhibiting and demonstrating around town that weekend. Katherine will be doing a demo at the Skagit Historical Museum. One of the pieces that Katherine has created for the exhibit is ‘thirteen branches’.

Katherine’s trip to Europe

Swiatovy Festiwal Wikliny – The World Festival of Wicker and Wickerwork: Nowy Tomysl, Poland, August 26-28, 2011. Katherine was invited to attend this biennial event in Poland. There will be basketmakers from about 30 countries participating in the event with competitions, demonstrations, parades and more. This area is a large producer of willow, so it will be of a particular interest to Katherine and her basketry work.

Katherine has used the invitation to the festival in Poland as a motivation to organize a trip to Europe to study willow basketry. She will be leaving in August for six weeks to visit France, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Poland, Netherlands, and Germany. Stops will include three major basketry festivals: the Fête de la Vannerie in Vallabrègues, France, the World Festival of Wicker in Nowy Tomysl, Poland, and the Korbmarkt in Lichtenfels, Germany; as well as visits to several museums and basketmakers’ studios including one of her early mentors Werner Turtschi. Katherine has also arranged to study with David Drew in Villaines-les-Rochers in the Loire Valley of France for several days. She met David when she was in Villaines in 2006 taking a class at the Cooperative de Vannerie. She is excited to go back and get a chance to work with such an outstanding willow basketmaker. Katherine will be posting photos and comments during her trip on the Dunbar Gardens Facebook page.

Willow Basketmaking Classes with Katherine Lewis

Due to Katherine’s trip to Europe and her busy schedule of basketmaking, the next class here in Mount Vernon will be December 3 & 4. This will be a two day class with a focus on small projects. Several people have expressed interest in weaving small baskets for gifts. More details will be posted on our website later in the year. The class will be the usual two days, 9am-5pm, limit 10 people, $175, at the McLean Road Fire Hall.

Willow Gathering 2012 in Decorah, Iowa, June 21-26,2012: Katherine has been invited to teach in Iowa at this workshop organized by Jo Campbell-Amsler and Lee Zieke Lee. She will be teaching three two-day classes: Scottish rope coil, scallomed oval baskets, and Irish potato basket. For those of you who live in the Midwest this will be a great opportunity to take one or more of Katherine’s classes. Also teaching at the event will be Sandy Whalen and Donna Kallner. The organizers expect the classes to fill well in advance. Information and registrations are available through Jo Campbell-Amsler – jocamsler@hotmail.com.

Farmstand: Despite the cool weather we have been experiencing, the farmstand is open with a variety of produce fresh from our garden every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. You can find details on the website. Come out and enjoy the produce this year because Steve is thinking he needs to start making baskets so that he doesn’t miss out on the next trip to Europe!

Facebook: Dunbar Gardens has a Facebook page. We post photos of Katherine’s latest baskets, commissions, and photos of the farm as well as other links of interest for willow basketry.

For more information about classes, baskets, willow growing, or our farmstand please visit our website.

Thanks!

Katherine & Steve

MoNA Style 2010

exhibits 6 Responses »

Feb 242010

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.

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.

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weaving a willow garden basket

baskets 5 Responses »

Dec 152009

I photographed Katherine weaving a willow garden basket in October, 2007. Recently I picked out 15 of them for a set that I posted to our Flick.com account. The photos were taken in one of our barns on the farm.You can see some of the dried basketry willow from our farm behind Katherine. There is also a selection of finished baskets. The amazing detail is that our cat Spike only appears in one photo!

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To be clear, Katherine doesn’t normally work here. These photos were taken for a magazine article that appeared in the April 2008 issue of Romantic Homes. The issue had a focus on “ways to shop green” and “French style”. Katherine was the featured artisan in an article entitled “A Basket Case”. The editor asked us to provide some photos of Katherine at work and on our farm. They did a nice job of taking what we sent and cropping it for a nice mix of images.

Jacqueline deMontravel wrote in the article, “Shopping with a basket is as classic and stylish as a designer bag that warrants a waiting list. As the trend catches on, such style will do more than liven up grocery aisles, it will benefit the world….Katherine says”It’s a purchase for something local, making an investment for a well-made item.”" Well in the photos we took she is weaving a garden basket, but maybe you’ll get the idea!

More than food

Dunbar Gardens 2 Responses »

Nov 292009

bundles of basketry willow at Dunbar gardens

It is great to see the focus on eating local and supporting local farms. The growth of farmers markets, organically grown produce, and the variety of artisan food products are all encouraging signs. But as a farm based business, I hope that people recognize that farms produce more than food products. Farms also grow and harvest fiber crops, lumber, ornamentals, nursery plants, biofuels, and more. We all use and depend on these crops, but are we giving the same thought to where and how they are produced? There is a lot of opportunity to encourage the same support for domestic producers of these non food crops as we are seeing in the “local food” movement.

Many people don’t even think our basketry willow is a farm crop. They imagine us going out and cutting mature willow trees somewhere. One of our goals is to show people the potential of growing a crop like willow on small farms or gardens and using it to craft functional goods. Our small farm is similar to many that use a so called value-added product to get a better return on the energy we invest. Instead of turning milk into cheese, we are turning willow into baskets. Granted that the cheese is a more essential product, but it isn’t unreasonable to suggest that willow farms producing baskets or sheep ranchers producing wool or even clothing can be part of a local farm economy.

Of course, one of the challenges facing producers of these non-perishable handcrafted items are the low cost alternatives imported from less developed countries. Stores like our local food co-operative are a great source of locally grown farm products, but they also sell inexpensive handcrafted products in the mercantile section. Many of these goods are made by people on the other side of the globe, but they are labeled “fair trade” which makes it easy for us to feel good about their purchase while getting a good price.

So the basketmaker has to find a market niche just like the winemaker who has their own vineyard might. Not everyone will want or need our product, but hopefully our business is included in the conversation about local farms, the economy, ecologically friendly practices, and sustainability.

bean poles

gardening No Responses »

Aug 022009

willow bean pole

There’s nothing like the flavor of pole beans fresh from the garden. And even more satisfying is growing your own willow rods for making a trellis.

pole beans at Dunbar Gardens

I use some of the larger willow rods for pole beans. Varieties like Harrison’s or Continental Osier produce stout 8 to 10 foot rods. This year I also used some of the three year old peeled willow I showed in an earlier post about peeling willow bark. I put metal fence posts in about every 10 feet and run a heavy gauge wire along the top. Then I insert the dried willow rods several inches in the ground at an angle and tie them with a short piece of twine to the wire.

yellow romano beans

One of our favorite varieties to grow are these Italian yellow romanos – Meraviglia di Venezia.

Rufous Hummingbird on a willow bean pole

An added benefit is the fun watching the birds use the willow as a perch like this hummingbird waiting to zip down to the adjacent zinnias.

Rufous Hummingbird

Parrot basket

baskets 2 Responses »

Jun 062009

Sparki's parrot cage

Katherine recently completed weaving this parrot cage. It was a commission for a customer in nearby Anacortes, WA. She has a parrot named Sparki who gets thoroughly upset if the people go outside on the deck for coffee and leave her behind in the house. So the idea was to get a basket to put Sparki in for the outside on the deck or in the garden. (Just to be clear – the parrot does not live in the basket.) The basket needed a lid so that Michele could open it to place a metal perch she has inside. The lid is woven tight so that the parrot doesn’t perceive any predator threats from above. It has a front door for putting in the parrot. It has side handles to carry it. The basket is a little like a fitched laundry hamper. The door and its opening did provide some technical challenge to make.

parrot cage base

staked up

fitching

before the top waling

the door

the door latch

side handle

parrot basket lid

parrot basket

Laundry baskets

baskets 3 Responses »

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.

Magazine baskets

baskets 2 Responses »

Apr 242009

three magazine baskets

Here are three recent willow magazine baskets made by Katherine. The basket is woven on an oval hoop frame and the stakes are scallomed on. The sides can be woven in a variety of weaves like the French randing above or the slewing below. The shape and lengthwise handle make it great for magazines, books, or newspapers. One customer was even using one to schlep her laptop to the office. But the original request was from a customer for a nice magazine basket to set aside a living room chair. It has evolved into a popular style available in different sizes.

Spike approves!

P.S. More than just a magazine basket! This past Sunday we sold the middle sized basket to Mary and Jim because of the nice fit for carrying wine bottles. The smaller one went to a guy who was going to buy some cut tulip bunches to put in the basket and give it as a gift – a souvenir from the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival.

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