Workshops
Black Ash Backpack with Stephen Jerome Sr.
WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION
Get ready to learn to work with black ash! Join Stephen Jerome Sr., master basket maker of Gesgapegig First Nation, for an engaging, hands-on journey from raw ash to a beautifully crafted backpack.
Stephen will take you through the traditional process of preparing black ash—pounding, splitting, scraping and grading—and then show you how to transform those prepared splints into a functional backpack. Along the way, discover how to bring your work to life with colour and decorative techniques, including periwinkles.
Stephen’s deep knowledge, generous teaching style and wonderful sense of humour make this much more than a basket-making class. Come ready to work, learn, laugh and discover the remarkable possibilities of black ash.
SKILL LEVEL: All levels, beginners welcome.
$950 + hst
Stephen Jerome Sr.
Instructor Bio: Stephen Jerome is a Mi’gmaq artisan from Gesgapegiag First Nation, on the south shore of Québec’s Gaspé Peninsula. For more than forty years he has made black ash rib baskets the ancestral way - and made sure the knowledge doesn’t stop with him.
Scallomed Fitched Shopper with Jenny Crisp
WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION
Get ready to weave, fitch, shape and create! Over three days, you’ll make a beautiful oval openwork shopper in Jenny’s distinctive style, combining traditional techniques with a fresh, contemporary approach.
Dive into the satisfying rhythm of fitched and scallom construction, the techniques Jenny is best known for. Develop your knife skills and hand rhythms, while learning how to control the form and create a beautifully balanced basket. You’ll also have the chance to explore two handle styles—wrapped or skeined.
Jenny brings her passion, creativity and enthusiasm to every class, sharing the skills and knowledge she has developed through years of making. The result is a basket that is as functional as it is beautiful—and a workshop full of learning, making and fun.
Some knife skills are required.
INTERMEDIATE SKILL LEVEL: have made 10 or more willow baskets on your own (able to make a round base, rand, wale, etc.) but may need help with shaping, borders, etc. Some knife skills required.
$950 + hst
Jenny Crisp
Instructor Bio: In 1985 I set out to make a living from making functional objects from homegrown, indigenous materials. My aim is to practice using the inherent nature of these materials to the best of my knowledge, ability and experience, continuing to be innovative whilst maintaining the heritage of this craft. I have work featured in many collections, I work to commission, teach at all levels in both making and growing and I wrote a book called Willow, a beginners guide to growing and making. In my fourth decade of working with willow I am pleasantly surprised that my passion for my craft continues to be as strong as ever.
Willow Sculpture with Mel Bastier
Images shown for reference only. The size of the sculptures created in the workshop will vary
WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION
Three days of willow, creativity and a little bit of magic!
Join acclaimed basket maker and willow artist Mel Bastier for an exciting three-day adventure into willow sculpture. With years of experience creating imaginative willow work, Mel brings her infectious enthusiasm, creativity and expertise to Canada Weaves.
Rabbit, fox, dog or cat? Chicken, goose—or perhaps a beaver? What will emerge from your bundle of willow? Choose a medium-sized mammal or bird and learn how to bring it to life.
Mel will guide you through the entire process, from building the framework and fleshing out the form to weaving in the details that give your sculpture its character. Along the way, you’ll discover techniques for working with willow, while developing your own ideas and creative style.
With Mel’s generous teaching, knowledge, humour and a touch of magic, you’ll be encouraged to experiment, have fun and let your imagination take the lead.
Come ready to weave, create and see where the willow takes you!
SKILL LEVEL: All levels, beginners welcome.
$950 + hst
Mel Bastier
Instructor Bio: Mel Bastier is a willow artist and basketmaker specialising in large-scale sculpture. She is the owner of Out to Learn Willow, through which she provides engaging classes and workshops for both adults and children.
With more than 20 years of experience working with willow, Mel has created a wide range of installations and sculptures, including commissions for the BBC, Royal Horticultural Society and National Trust. Her work combines traditional weaving techniques with an imaginative approach to scale, form and place.
Mel is passionate about keeping the traditional skills of willow weaving alive and accessible, sharing her knowledge through quality instruction, hands-on learning and empathetic support. Whether she is teaching a complete beginner or creating a large-scale installation, her enthusiasm for the craft knows no bounds.
Her favourite phrase? “Go big or go home.”
Exploring Twining and Twill Weaves with Barks and Local Natural Materials With Joan Carrigan
WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION
Day 1 will be our Material Exploration and Preparation Day. Joan will have Western Red Cedar Bark, a variety of Willow Barks and Outer Cherry Bark for you to learn the steps of processing and preparing your materials for your first basket project. She will discuss the harvesting procedures using slides and then we’ll move to hands-on preparation of materials. Other materials on hand will include sedges, daylily leaves, and beargrass.
Day 2 we will weave with cedar bark spokes and explore a variety of twining and plaiting variations allowing you to design your basket with the materials on hand and with sample baskets for inspiration.
Day 3 we will weave a Twill Cat’s Head basket with cedar bark and willow bark. The focus on this basket is controlling shape and developing twill patterns. With an in-depth discussion on materials and an exploration of a variety of weave patterns, the hope is that you will be inspired and feel confident to continue your weaving journey with barks and local natural materials.
SKILL LEVEL: All levels, beginners welcome.
$950 + hst
Joan Carrigan
Instructor Bio: Joan Carrigan is a full-time basket maker and basketry teacher who has woven her basketry life on Salt Spring Island, BC for over 30 years. Joan studied Fine Art and Art History at the University of Guelph and attended her first Basketry Conference in Toronto in 1991.
Since then, her passion for this ancient art form has led her to study, travel, and explore many different techniques and materials. Her research into traditional skills inspires her use of plant materials she respectfully harvests from nature, while her background in fine art fuels her enthusiasm for the sculptural and creative potential that the medium offers. Joan teaches extensively and finds this to be a very rewarding aspect of her career.
Sweet Grass and Bark Basket With Porcupine Quills with Burlington Tooshkenig
WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION
Discover the beauty of traditional Anishinaabe basketry in this unique opportunity to learn with acclaimed artist Burlington Tooshkenig of Walpole Island First Nation. You’ll learn how to gather and prepare materials to create a finely coiled round basket using wiingushk (sweetgrass), carefully bundling and stitching the fragrant fibres into delicate, closely worked coils. The basket will be finished with a birch bark lid, adorned with intricate porcupine quillwork that adds a distinctive touch of colour, pattern and elegance.
Join us for a memorable experience in traditional basketry, where natural materials, fine handwork and cultural artistry come together in a beautiful piece to treasure.
SKILL LEVEL: All levels, beginners welcome.
$950 + hst
Burlington Tooshkenig
Instructor Bio:We are deeply honored to welcome Burlington Tooshkenig as an instructor for this basketry workshop. Burlington is an Anishinaabe artist from Walpole Island First Nation in Ontario, Canada, who learned the art of sweetgrass basketry from his grandmother. Driven to keep this traditional craft alive, he has mastered and expanded his practice to include birch bark and black ash basketry, embellishing his creations with porcupine quillwork, beadwork, spruce root, stonework, and shell work.
A passionate educator, Burlington shares Indigenous art forms with a global audience. His celebrated work has been acquired by institutions such as the Indigenous Art Centre at Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada and the Newfoundland and Labrador Provincial Art Bank, with art sales spanning across the globe.
Square work - Lidded Hamper with Eddie Glew
WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION
The course will revolve around square basketry techniques & styles. These skills will improve your overall basketmaking.
During this three-day workshop, you'll create a square work hamper incorporating key square work techniques essential for your basket-making toolkit.
This may take the form of a chest hamper, a blunt cornered Hamper or a hamper incorporating specific techniques you wish to learn.
Techniques that can be covered: scalloming, corner posts, blunt corners, continental stake up, chest hamper lids, blunt corner chest lids, various partition styles, bases, fastenings, hinges, lids, handles, made to measure work, hoops, waling variations, fitching, square corner borders, blunt corner borders.
Some knife skills are required.
SKILL LEVEL: Intermediate to Advanced
$950 + hst
Eddie Glew
Instructor Bio: A Yeoman Basket Maker & Sculptor Eddie weaves dreams in his workshop based in Derbyshire UK.
He never imagined that basket making would become his career and passion. After spending two years training with his father Peter Glew, as well as attending courses Peter had arranged for Ed before he passed, Ed spent a further two years honing his craft.
After Ed gained a full scholarship through The Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust he went on to study under Sally Goymer for a further two years. Ed absorbed every bit of knowledge and experience he could from Sally, learning about precision basket making, made to measure skills and expertise in square work.
Ed’s true passion and purpose is making useful and timeless items using the skills he learnt from his father Peter, Sally and many others. He loves the challenge of working on bespoke commissions and bringing abstract ideas to life, working with creativity and imagination.
Best of all he gets to share his skills and teach the next generation of willow weavers. Passing on the baton as his father did for him.
Some of Ed’s clients for his custom work include Fortnum & Mason, Disney, J.W. Anderson, Alton Towers, Asprey’s of London, Nando’s, The National Trust, Kirsty Allsopp, BBC, Channel 4, Warwick Castle, Windsor Castle, The Worshipful Company of Basketmakers, The Garnered, CLEAVE Court Jewellers
“We are but guardians of this ancient craft”.
Organic Basket with Ane Lyngsgaard
WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION
Over three days, Ane invites you to immerse yourself in the organic world of basketry, exploring the precision, patience, and creativity needed to create an organic form.
With traditional willow and basketry techniques as your foundation, it will become a sculptural piece, something functional, and simply an opportunity to play with colour, form, and possibility.
Ane describes discovering willow, wickerwork, and basketry as “like finding a new love.” For over 20 years, she has shared this love through teaching in Denmark and internationally, using traditional techniques to create work guided by her hands, heart, and imagination.
SKILL LEVEL: Beginner to Intermediate. Some experience required.
$950 + hst
Ane Lyngsgaard
Instructor Bio: Discovering the world of willow, wickerwork and basketry was like finding a new love. The fascination of using my hands, learning an old handicraft and slowly identifying a new world, added a new dimension to my life. I experienced time and again – when my frustration was massive and the baskets no good - suddenly to break through and uncover a new form. To wake up in the middle of the night, my head full of images of baskets, and just know exactly how they were supposed to feel and look. For 30 years I have been teaching basketry in Denmark and other countries. I use the old techniques to create what my hands and heart tell me. For 20 years I have been teaching new design for weaving groups in different countries in Africa.
I have written two books: Bark – a wonderful world, and “Fletterier”
In 2023 I launched the basketry app Baskets2day and Flet Nu.
Oval, Rounded Underfoot Shopper with Peter Dibble
WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION
Ready to weave some magic? Join master basketmaker and willow grower Peter Dibble for an exciting three-day workshop where you'll create your Oval Underfoot Base Shopper!
Peter’s basketry blends traditional methods with decades of experience, distinctive techniques, and eclectic influences. During this hands-on workshop, you will learn how to use randing and packing to shape your basket and finish it with an elegant bowed handle. Peter will share his favorite tips and tricks to help you build your skills and confidence.
Come challenge yourself, try new techniques, and discover a unique approach to this craft while having some good fun along the way.
SKILL LEVEL: Intermediate
$950 + hst
Peter Dibble
Instructor Bio: Peter started to learn basic basketry from his father-in-law in the mid 1990's, since then he has been self taught and a full-time maker since 1997.
Peter’s style is inspired from the many baskets he has seen over the years, combining traditional methods and his own techniques. He also grows many of the willows he weaves with, having inherited the willow bed from his father-in-law. Being involved in the basket making process from start to finish gives him great satisfaction.
In-situ willow fencing was a large part of Peter’s work, but less so in recent years to allow him to step into the world of teaching. He gives one to one classes from his workshop in Norwich, he has been a tutor at all three Tear Up Festivals and other UK venues, he’s also taught in France & Germany and is very much looking forward to teaching at Canada Weaves.