Twine Twist Turn
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Like all living beings, willow pulses with the rhythm of the seasons. Harvest, sort, bundle and store in a dry place to cure. Soak, mellow and weave a basket into being! Gather gifts and see how the basket holds them. The process of making a basket is a celebration of relationships. A love song to the rivers, to my teachers and to the willow.
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Baskets are like stories… if you listen they will tell you something.
“Place is telling you everything that is going on. Pay attention to place.”
- Tyson Yunkaporta
Wic Wicker Witch
The word ‘wic’ means ‘to bend or shape’ in old English. Wicker, wicked and witch all share this root. Witches were thought to have the ability to ‘bend or shape’ reality. Wicker work transforms flexible willow sticks into sturdy baskets. The ecological knowledge of how to transform natural materials into useful tools was seen as suspect during the transition from feudalism to capitalism in old Europe.
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This Zig Zag yellow garden queen weaves her web in a willow patch at my teachers farm.
“Traditional art using natural materials expresses our participation and relationship with the natural world.”
-Gregory Cajete
The ancient art of basket weaving lives in the ancestral memory of all human hands.
Techniques, styles and materials are a reflection of place, culture and time. Many of these cultural traditions have been fractured, stolen and/or forgotten as a result of colonization, migration and assimilation. Willow offers me a way to study the tattered quilt of my European linage and traditions and engage in the complexities of land stewardship on stolen land. Weaving with willow has brought me a sense of belonging as a bridge plant between this land and the land of my ancestors. I get to walk that bridge every time I use ancient weaving techniques with local plants.
Are bendy sticks calling your name?
“What you return to over and over is where you invest your love.”
-Aaron Abeyta
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