Fringed Bark Spiral Basket Making

Event Summary

Course Times:  8:00 am to 4:00 pm each day

Location:   Briggs Woods Park - Barn Shelter, 2490 Briggs Woods Trail, Webster City, IA

Cost:   $50 per attendee, plus $50 material fee = $100.00 registration

Basket Making will be presented July 1, 2 & 3, 2014, however a different basket will be made each day.  Participants can register for one, two, or all 3 classes!

Originally from Jewell, Iowa, Peggie Wilcox, one of the nation’s premier basket makers, uses natural materials she harvests herself, to create stunning baskets. Her works are exhibited throughout the country, most recently shown at the Renwick Gallery at the Smithsonian Institute.  

Peggie will present a different basket each day of this three-day workshop. The first day, students create a small basket and learn basic techniques. The second and third day will focus on more challenging baskets for students who have some experience with weaving or who have taken the first day class.

Instructor:  Peggie Wilcox
For me there is something elemental and almost magical about the whole process of creating structures from plants.  Weaving containers from plant materials has been a part of the human experience from our beginning and I love having a small part in the continuation of this constantly evolving form of self-expression.  Conveniences such as bags and boxes free contemporary basket makers from the constraints of necessity.  We’re able to push the limits of tradition and function to more sculptural forms if we so choose, or to revel in the beauty and integrity of those limits. My baskets are made using combinations of many traditions, techniques and plant materials.  My work has been influenced by the Native American basket making traditions, the European Willow basket making traditions, and many contemporary basket makers.  Research is so much easier now-it’s possible to see work being done all over the world, to easily be in contact with basket makers anywhere and to study basket collections in museums and galleries through the internet. 

My favorite plant materials are Rush, Cedar inner bark, Iris leaves, Maidenhair Fern stem, Kudzu fiber, Yucca and Willow, but the list grows and changes as I experiment with new plants.  Twining, with its many variations, is my preferred weaving technique.  The plant materials I use are renewable, sustainable, non-toxic, beautifully colored and some are extremely fragrant.  They hold unending fascination and inspiration for me and continue to challenge me even after 30 years of working with them.  My seasonal rituals of gathering and processing my plant materials are an integral part of each basket I make. 

For many of the thirty years I have been making baskets I have been teaching the craft to others.  It has helped me make a living, but has also helped shape my work.  Teaching others to make baskets makes me look at what I do and how I do it in a different way.  I have to put into words what must be done to change the tension in the twining to make the sides upset, to add in a new weaver, or to turn down a border. Teaching has helped me know my materials and my work more intensely and more intimately. I have work in many private collections.  I travel to teach basket making all over the country, and my home/studio is in the beautiful Southern Appalachian Mountains of Northeast Georgia.

Cost

Adults - $100.00

Category

Special Events