Day Two at the ‘Woven Communities’ basketry symposium

Day Two of the ‘Woven Communities’ basketry symposium was just as good as Day One. Everyone arrived early to have a go at making bits and bobs and playing with materials, and there was lots of swapping of ideas, techniques and experiences before the presentations got underway.

I’d say that there was a more temporal theme to the day, looking at basketry in the past, present and future. The first session, ‘Basketry and the past’, focused on basketry (or the absence of it) in the archaeological record. Willeke Wendrich of UCLA showed us some photos of ancient basketry from Egypt and other parts of the Mediterranean. She made an interesting point about how ‘tradition’ means different things to different people, giving an example of two basketmaking communities in Nubia – one which goes to great lengths to find traditional materials, valuing the material above all, while the other uses modern materials such as chocolate wrappers, valuing the pattern and colour above all. Next up was Hugh Cheape from the University of the Highlands and Islands on the subject of curachs (coracles) and coffins. This was followed by a joint presentation by two conservators, Sherry Doyal and Pieta Greaves, who spoke about the practicalities and problems of conserving the very few waterlogged baskets that are found.

While the official title of the next session was ‘National and international woven communities’, it was very much a session about the present. First up was Joe Hogan, a basketmaker and artist from Ireland, who gave a wonderful talk about Irish baskets and his own practice. We often talk about regional variation in baskets, but Joe gave examples of variations between villages often only three or four miles apart. He was followed by Anne Morrell of the Calico Museum of Textiles in Ahmenabad, India, who looked at the relationship between embroidery and basketmaking, and cautioned us against our obsession with naming every stitch, weave, action etc. There was a great quote from Anne ‘Do not assume that things are made using the same methods you know about’. The final talk of this session was from Carlos Fontales, an expert in Spanish basketry, who spoke about the relationship between basketry and pottery in making jugs to hold wine, and introduced us to beautiful woven willow jugs lined with pine resin to make them watertight.  

The afternoon session began with a mixture of present and future, looking at ideas of sustainability. Mary Butcher spoke about sustainable resources in basketmaking and some of the problems facing supplies of willow (shortage of beds and commercially grown willow), cane (an export ban imposed by the Indonesian government, the largest supplier of cane) and black ash (being destroyed in the millions by the emerald ash borer beetle). Rehema White of the University of St Andrews discussed ideas of sustainable development in relation to basketmaking. Ben Campbell of the University of Durham looked at the effects of nature conservation in Nepal on a bamboo basketmaking culture – when the creation of the Langtang National Park in 1976 banned the trade in forest products and made it necessary to have a licence to cut bamboo.

The final session of the symposium was ‘Weaving into the future’. I gave a talk about intangible heritage and heritage craft, and spoke about the work the HCA is doing to ensure that craft skills and knowledge carry on into the future. This was followed by a discussion session led by Emma Walker of CraftScotland, with basketmakers Lois Walpole and Jane Wilkinson, and me, and contributions from the floor. The day ended with Tim Ingold of the University of Aberdeen bringing together the various strands of the symposium, such as tradition, knowledge, materials, politics and a whole lot more.

To cap off the day Ewan Balfour, a landscape architect and basketmaker from Shetland, finished the kishie he had been making throughout the conference. On the first day, he could be seen in the front row making what seemed like an endless length of rope, and on the second day he made the basket. That was one of the great things about the conference – the mix of the practical and the academic – and it was great to see people working away with their hands, exploring materials and having an experiment while listening to the talks.

craft debate at the V&A

 In a couple of weeks I shall be speaking at the V&A on the subject of the place of traditional craft skills in the 21st century. It's part of a panel discussion with eminent speakers from the world of Art and Design, Sir Nicholas Goodison Tanya Harrod, Sir Christopher Frayling amongst others. I will be rather in awe but hope to do my bit.

For anyone who fancies coming along tickets are free and the event is in the Hochauser auditorium at the V&A 10.30-12.00 21st September.

Art, Craft & Design - cross-overs and boundaries in the 21st Century

• What:
  Free talks & tours
• When:
  Fri 21 September 2012 10:30
• Where:
  Hochhauser Auditorium, Sackler Centre

FREE TALK: Join six eminent speakers from the three sectors of art, craft, and design as they discuss the evolving nature of craft and how shifting allegiances and cross-overs have lead it to defy categorisation.
The debate will be in two sessions chaired by Glenn Adamson: Robin Wood will make a plea for the preservation of traditional skills, with responses from Sir Nicholas Goodison and Tanya Harrod. After the Q&A, Tracey Rowledge will talk about the reinvention of traditional skills in the 21st century with responses from Sir Christopher Frayling and Mel Howse.
Organised by the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust (QEST) which makes awards to craftspeople who reflect the excellence of British craftsmanship, such as scholar and saddle maker Mia Sabel, who was employed by Mark Taylor to work on his design for a briefcase and used her skills to help develop the manufacture of the leatherwork for this highly original product (see image).
Part of London Design Festival 2012.
10.30-12.30

Link to V&A  here 

Day One at the ‘Woven Communities’ basketry symposium

I’ve been lucky enough to take a few days off work to travel up to Scotland for a two day symposium on basketmaking at the University of St. Andrews. The symposium is called ‘Woven Communities’ and has a great line up of speakers, on a wide variety of themes. The project seeks to document basket weaving communities in Scotland, both heritage and contemporary, and to create a publicly available compendium of the vast wealth of information that springs from this process. The idea for the project grew out of the Scottish Basketmakers Circle, and has been funded by a research grant from the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

The main theme running through today, the first day, was that of different communities associated with basketmaking. So many interesting things were said, with many connections appearing across the talks but I’ll try to give a whistlestop tour of the day – apologies for the length, it was a packed day!

The morning began on the subject of ‘Interwoven communities’ and we all had a go at making a circle out of hair moss, linking them together to form a long ‘interwoven’ chain, followed by an introduction to the project from Stephanie Bunn who’s organising it. 

The next session was on the subject of ‘Curating communities’ and looked at various collectors of baskets in Scotland and the role that baskets have played in life in Scotland. There was a talk from Linda Fitzpatrick at the Scottish Fisheries Museum, which introduced us to some of the wide variety of baskets used in the fishing industry and some of their regional variations, such as the line baskets used for laying out the coiled fishing line (up to a mile long and with 1200 hooks in inshore fishing, and up to 15 miles long and with over 5000 hooks in offshore fishing) which come in a range of materials/shapes/heights/depths across Scotland. Ian Tait of the Shetland Museum and Archives showed us that there was more to Shetland basketry than a woman carrying a peat-filled kishie across her back whilst knitting, talking us through some of the materials and uses of baskets in Shetland. A key thing to pick up on was that the basket known as the ‘willow basket’ in Shetland is not actually made from willow, which has historically never been used in Shetland basketmaking – instead they're cane, which was introduced to the islands in the 1920s.

The afternoon session began with us all having a go at making a piece of rope from two pieces of rush. The smell of the rush was incredible – it’s been described to me, but I’ve never experienced it (and spent the rest of the afternoon surreptitiously sniffing my rope). The theme for the first part of the afternoon was ‘Growing communities’. Caroline Dear, an artist and basketmaker from Skye, introduced us to some of the materials available on the island that she’d been experimenting with, including a project in which she made 100 pieces of rope made from different materials over 100 days. This was followed by two talks from botanists at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh. The first, from Greg Kenicer, looked at how little was recorded about plants used in basketmaking by botanists of the Scottish Enlightenment in the eighteenth century, concluding that perhaps baskets were deemed to be so everyday that no mention needed to be made of them. The second, from Ian Edwards, asked us to consider the time involved in basketmaking – in growing the material, preparing the material, and actually making the basket – and included comparisons of similar baskets from around the world, such as woven chestnut baskets in Spain and black ash baskets in North America.

The final session of the day asked the question ‘Why make baskets?’, kicking off with a talk by Victoria Mitchell from Norwich University of the Arts which considered how far the concept of basketry can be expanded. Graeme Were from the University of Queensland spoke about his research in Papua New Guinea, concentrating on the ‘arawai’ basket from New Ireland. These baskets were originally made as gardening baskets, then the design/construction changed but the function remained the same, and then the old design was reinstated but they are now used as ‘fashion’ baskets. Most interesting is perhaps the fact that the women who make and wear these baskets don’t see it as a cultural revival, but as something new and contemporary. The day concluded with Lise Bech, a Danish artist and basketmaker from Shetland, giving a personal account of her work.

It was a fascinating day, not a dull talk amongst them, and nicely punctuated by good tea-breaks, which always keep you going at these things! It was also great for me to be able to put faces to names I’ve heard so much about over the past couple of years since first getting to know about UK basketry. Look out for tomorrow’s post on Day Two.

NIACE craft toolkit, how to turn a hobby into a business

Today I was in London meeting with Skills Minister John Hayes and the BIS craft skills advisory board. One of the things discussed was the NIACE craft toolkit. We helped publicise the call for input to this document a while ago and it's good to see the finished website with a wealth of information. Perhaps one of the more interesting sections is the series of profiles of 50 or so craftspeople telling how they got into doing what they do. I am one of them and there are a lot of my friends and other Heritage Crafts Association members on there too which is nice to see. The "Value of Craft" section has some interesting articles and thoughts, then there are various useful links for instance to lists of awards and bursaries.

Our meeting was held at the Prince's school of traditional arts, an inspiring place full of creativity. We did a bit of a tour and the Minister joined in a life drawing session. Talking about the work of the school the Minister said "We think of the arts as being about creativity, and of course they are, but that creativity channeled into disciplined learning and traditions which are drawing on a long history is about delivering excellence." The students were learning drawing as part of an intensive and inspirational 3 week "building skills" program. I was surprised to be spotted by one of the students who had previously been on one of my bowlcarving courses and is now enrolled on the foundation's 8 month craft course. What a fantastic opportunity.

 To me the ethos of the building was well summed up by this piece of writing pinned up beside somebody's desk.

 I would love to be able to share with you the outcomes of the meeting, there are really very exciting progressions as the traditional crafts are finally recognised as an important sector with great opportunity for investment, promotion and growth. Sadly all the documents and projects we are discussing are still at draft stage and readers will have to wait until they are officially launched, it's exciting stuff though. Last photo to share, after my 2 1/2hour journey home I come over the hill into Edale and this is the view that awaits me, my workshop is at the end of the valley toward the left of the picture and my home toward the right. I am told that rainfall so far this year has been 32" with 10" in June alone, it does make for a green and pleasant land though.

Tomorrow I pack the van and head off for another 4 days voluntary work manning the Heritage Crafts Association stand at my favourite art and craft event of the year Art in Action near Oxford. If you are visiting we are in the Market area, pop by and say hello.

Morgan car factory visit

I just found these photos from a great tour of the Morgan car factory last year, hope you enjoy them as much as I did the tour. Looking down on the back wheel of the new 3 wheeler.

and from the front, can't beat a big V twin engine.

 I quite liked the WW11 fighter style paintjob

 parked outside was Charles Morgan's personal aero 8

 We started the tour with a walk through the museum to give us a taste of the history of the company, set up by Charles Morgan's Grandfather in 1910

Then into the first workshops where they put together chassis and engine.

 Next the bodywork shop, lots of handwork here, just like it used to be done.

 Bodywork is still all supported on ash frames, is this the 21st century?

 These guys were using the lovely fly press to put the vents into a bonnet.

 The finished bonnet

 bodywork fitted to chassis

 cutting out and fitting body panels by hand.

into the woodwork shop 

 Finishing a dashboard with a spokeshave

 These are laminated wheel arches/mudguards

 and the clamp for laminating them.

 lots of handwork on finishing

 into the spray booth, all by hand of course, not a robot in sight.

now our tour gets to the fitting room where all the leather and upholstery is added.

 again everything is made from scratch in this room and skilfully tweaked to fit by hand.

 fitting seat belts and steering wheels.

 apprentice work, a final polish.

 I would love to own one. Our vicar used to race a supercharged Morgan and has a lovely original 3 wheeler which I have driven, it was surprisingly swift and agile for a 80 year old car and everywhere you go in one people grin and wave.

and if you can't afford a Morgan how about buying a raffle ticket with a chance to win one whilst also supporting a great charity? Morgan donated a 3 wheeler to the Horse Loggers Trust get your tix here

Balvenie Masters of Craft

Launched in 2011, The Balvenie Masters of Craft is designed to celebrate the varied range of handcrafted skills that are currently thriving across Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Craftsmanship is at the heart of everything that goes into making The Balvenie and, as the most handcrafted Single Malt Scotch Whisky it is in a unique position to showcase the skills, dedication and passion that are needed to be a craftsperson in today’s world.
  
The Balvenie Masters of Craft features ten categories, including two new additions for 2012. The search for talented craftspeople who work with Wood, Glass & Ceramics, Metal, Leather, Textiles and Stone will be open along with, for the first time, people who produce handcrafted, artisan Food.
HCA chair Robin Wood is again on the judging panel alongside Kevin McCloud and is keen for as many HCA members to enter as possible. 

  

Alongside the returning ‘Young Master of Craft’ award, open to craftspeople between the ages of 21 and 30, and the ‘The Balvenie Master of Craft’ award comes the new ‘David Stewart Life Time Achievement’ award - a special award dedicated to, and judged by David Stewart, The Balvenie Malt Master who is this year celebrating an unprecedented 50 years at The Balvenie. The award is open to craftspeople that have a proven longevity and expertise in their craft.   


On the return of the awards, David Stewart, the whisky industry’s longest serving Malt Master said: “At The Balvenie Distillery we are lucky enough to have a team of highly skilled craftspeople on site, from the farmers who grow our barley to our team of malt men, coppersmiths and coopers. Their talent and dedication to their craft goes into every drop of The Balvenie that we produce.” 


“The UK is and always has been a hive of craft and we know that there are pockets of traditional and handmade skills being practised all over the country. It is these fellow craftspeople we want to find and celebrate through the campaign.” 


On being asked to judge the awards for a second year, TV presenter and author Kevin McCloud said: “It is an honour to be returning as a judge of The Balvenie Masters Of Craft, last years’ awards were a great success with some extremely well deserved winners.” 


“Being a master craftsperson takes years of training, hard work and dedication, I am extremely excited to see this years’ entries.”


Award Categories
There are seven individual craft categories and we will award a ‘Best in Category’ for each. From these entries, we will appoint an overall Master of Craft award.  

• Category 1: Stone
• Category 2: Wood
• Category 3: Metal
• Category 4: Glass and Ceramics
• Category 5: Textiles
• Category 6: Leather
• Category 7: Food 
• Category 8: Young Master of Craft (open to craftspeople between the ages of 21 and 30 years old)
• Category 9: The David Stewart Life Time Achievement Award (open to craftspeople that have a proven longevity and expertise in their craft.  )
• Category 10: The Balvenie Master Of Craft 2012

The awards are supported by The Sunday Telegraph so ensure good publicity launch article here

For more information on the campaign, or to nominate a craftsperson visit: http://www.thebalveniemastersofcraft.com/lda.html

Heritage Heroes BBC TV

Last October I spent a lot of time advising the team for a new BBC program on potential craftspeople they could visit as part of a series at that time billed as "Heritage at Risk". The program is now airing fronted by John Craven as "Heritage Heroes". They tour the country looking at buildings and traditions at risk and the people keeping those traditions alive. Last week was the Penines, next the border country along the Welsh Marches down to Bristol I think and then the final week will be along the south coast.


Anyway last Thursday was the episode on the Peak district and they visited me and my friends at Portland Works in Sheffield. Here are a couple of screenshots, first of me waxing lyrical about an old bowl made by George Lailey about 70 years ago.

 and here is my mate Stuart Mitchell showing John Craven his knives.

The episode is up on iplayer for a while, probably not available outside the UK I am afraid, this is the link and I am on around 21 mins in.

Both Stuart and I will be speaking about our work as part of the V&A craft conference on 24th March have you booked your tickets yet? early bird discount is still available here

TV is a funny thing, whilst 3 minutes of TV costs a huge amount to produce they very rarely pay the folk they film expecting you to give your time for the fame and glory. Another popular misconception is that a few minutes on TV bring fame and fortune, in reality the normal effect is a bunch of your mates phone and text saying they saw you on the telly but it rarely transfers into orders or increased business. In Fact a good friend Hector Cole who does blacksmithing and used to do a lot of work for Time Team reckoned that it was actually bad for business as most of his customers assumed he would be too busy to want to sell them a few arrowheads. This series does seem to have been better than most with 4 or 5 bowl orders this week mentioning the program and it's always nice when you parents see you on the telly and think you have done good.