About me
Weaving has been a constant theme in my life, I originally trained in textiles as a fabric weaver before taking up basketmaking twenty four years ago. You can see me working and taking about my basketry on the:-
Slowcoast videoI make both functional baskets and sculptural pieces. After moving to Devon from London in 1985 I planted several willow beds and use mainly natural materials including hazel, oak and ash. These are all harvested locally.
Working with a source of sustainable and renewable materials connects me to the seasonal cycle.
Basketry is a slow craft; growing the materials, cutting, grading, drying, soaking, gives control but adds to the making time.
I study traditional techniques for basketmaking and find them endlessly intriguing, refined to perfectly suit the available material and the function. I try to find my own way to use these ideas to create form and texture, and this continues to be an inspiration.
The general style of my work can be seen on the Baskets page. As well as functional baskets, some examples of work done to commission are shown here. Commissioned work includes lampshades made for a lighting company and baskets to fit bespoke kitchens. Other sculptural work can be seen as 'exhibition' or wall pieces.
I have been interested in traditional European techniques associated with willow and wood for a long time; All the ways that have been found and can be found for construction, assessing what can look like a jumble of twigs or sticks, finding its potential, choosing one form or another. I work mainly with willow and hedgerow materials and like to combine these with cleft wood to create a strong texture.
I like to make at the physical limits of what I am able to control. My forms come from developing traditional techniques and using them in my own way.
Typical examples of this sort of work include round and oval platters and their variations. I have been experimenting with ideas around this theme of looped elements on a framework to make platters and related forms since seeing a photograph of a basket in a book on Spanish basketry. The basket there uses one-year old hazel rods, short in length and sturdy to work with. The form of the basket, a simple tray, allows each rod to make a single loop and relies on tension to keep it together. Changing the materials and the sequence gives space to play with the technique.
SCULPTURAL WORK AND COLLABORATIONS
Making non-functional work for exhibition is always a challenge and allows me to experiment with new ideas.
The 'Armour' pieces were made for the exhibition 'Treading Lightly' at the Devon Guild of Craftsmen.
'New Eyes on the Old Road' a collaborative exhibition with printmaker (Susan Deakin) and ceramic sculptor (Lucianne Lassalle) examined an ancient Devon lane over the course of a year. This produced work such as 'Littertraps' from winter walks on icy mornings making even rubbish caught in hedgerows beautiful,
'Tracks' 'Birchwing' and 'Canopy'. 'Dewpond' was made in collaboration with Susan Deakin.
Collaborative work with Geraldine Jones and Susan Deakin produced 'The Paper Palace' on Loe Bar, a spiral structure made from Cornish bamboo papered with prints on Japanese paper of the local flora and fauna which were made in community workshops. This was featured in Architecture week 2006
A collaboration with ceramicist Verity Newman led to the 'Nest Head'
TEACHING
I have taught adults for many years and have run residencies in several schools with primary and secondary classes, with children with learning difficulties and also little or no sight.
PUBLICATIONS
Author of ‘Cane, rush and willow, weaving with natural materials’ published by Batsford.
MEMBERSHIPS
Member of the Devon Guild of Craftsmen and Basketmakers Southwest
Co-founder of ‘Basketry and Beyond’ www.basketryandbeyond.org.uk, a voluntary organisation that promotes the use of natural materials and sustainable construction.