BA Traditional Basketry Project embarks on a new phase

Building on the 2018 Endangered Baskets Report’s recommendation to ‘celebrate heritage basketry’ and the Basketmakers’ Association’s valued partnerships with Heritage Crafts, The Worshipful Company of Basketmakers and the Museum of English Rural Life (The MERL), the Traditional Basketry Project (TBP) Steering Group are delighted to share news of its next phase.

‘Basketry: Rescuing, Reviving, Retaining’ Exhibition Tour

The ‘Basketry: Rescuing, Reviving, Retaining’ exhibition will display heritage basketry from the British Isles. The exhibition takes the first firm step towards creating an annual event on endangered and heritage baskets so as to share and inform new research and celebrate basketry as part of the UK’s cultural heritage. We hope this will serve to raise awareness of and inspire others to feed into the project’s wider objective to record traditional techniques, baskets and research for the future.

Starting next month and running into 2025, the exhibition will tour to a number of UK venues. It will start at the Tear Up Festival of weaving and basketry at Blithfield Reservoir, near Rugeley in Staffordshire, headed up by the marvellous Eddie Glew at Blithfield Willowcrafts who we are delighted to be supporting. Taking place Wednesday 21 – Sunday 25 August 2024, the exhibition will be open throughout the festival, evolving as exhibits are delivered by exhibitors arriving to teach, learn, demonstrate and immerse themselves in basketry-related festivities. Whilst tickets for the first three days of teaching by the 10 world renowned weavers are sold out, the available weekend and day (Saturday or Sunday only) tickets will enable you to see the exhibition at its height during the festival weekend. Accompanying the exhibition is a weekend programme of demonstrations of traditional basketry techniques, materials and forms.

The exhibition will tour to Ruthin Craft Centre in Denbighshire, north Wales from Saturday 28 September 2024 to Sunday 12 January 2025 to be displayed at the centre for applied arts, featuring in their roster of prestigious contemporary and heritage craft exhibitions and building on the ‘Basketry: Rhythm, Renewal & Reinvention’ exhibition of 2021/2022. The exhibition will be shown in two galleries at the Centre, with independent curator and consultant Gregory Parsons overseeing the exhibition, placing a particular focus on Welsh basketry. With a background in woven textile design and making, Greg has completed over one hundred exhibitions to date, with this exhibition being the fourth on basketry he has curated for Ruthin. Join Ruthin’s mailing list or follow them on Instagram / Eventbrite to be the first to hear about events they intend to host alongside the exhibition.

The exhibition will also tour to the Harley Gallery in Nottinghamshire Saturday 12 April – Sunday 29 June 2025; sign up to their newsletter to be kept up to date. Subject to current conversations and resources, we hope the exhibition will tour further. If and when details are confirmed, we will announce them here.

Project Officer

To realise the exhibition tour plus the wider aim of collecting research data about heritage baskets from the British Isles (more details of this element of the project to follow), the TBP Steering Group have appointed a Project Officer until the end of 2024. Recruited last month, Glasgow-based Helen Voce brings 25+ years of experience of working in the crafts and design sectors, most recently as a freelance creative event, project and development programme producer, working directly with independent makers, craftspeople, designers in the UK and clients globally including Creative Scotland, Applied Arts Scotland and in turn the British Council, Crafts Council, Cove Park and the World Crafts Council Europe. Helen is clear about being on the nursery slopes (perhaps even just putting her skies on!) of the basketry world (happier on an Excel spreadsheet black run!), and very much welcomes members’, associates’ and partners’ generosity of knowledge sharing, advice / guidance, expertise and most importantly patience. Helen looks forward to meeting Basketmakers’ Association Members and associates online and offline in the coming months.

In her application, Helen told us ‘In basketry and related crafts, since assisting the weaving of a willow fence at Ness Botanic Gardens in secondary school, I have: as Dumfries & Galloway Council’s Craft Development Officer commissioned and supported Lizzie Farey on her Spirit of Air solo touring exhibition (assisting Lizzie to harvest her locally grown willow); commissioned Rachel Bower at Woven Willow and Eve Eunson to write Natural String from Everyday Plants and Knotted Baskets Activity Guides respectively for MAKE Manifesto; interviewed The Orkney Furniture Maker and The Marchmont Workshop to profile their practices in multiple projects, including internationally with the British Council.’

Get in Touch

If you would like to be involved with any aspect of the Traditional Basketry Project (TBP), please contact Helen (07961 589312) or the Steering Group Chair, Clare Revera via [email protected].

The ‘Basketry: Rescuing, Reviving, Retaining’ exhibition forms part of the continued work of the Basketmakers’ Association’s Traditional Basketry Project supported by the The Worshipful Company of Basketmakers and delivered in partnership with Heritage Crafts.