{"id":15179,"date":"2022-04-06T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-04-05T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/?post_type=purple_issue&p=15179"},"modified":"2022-04-25T10:52:10","modified_gmt":"2022-04-25T08:52:10","slug":"a-weavers-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/2022\/04\/06\/a-weavers-life\/","title":{"rendered":"A weaver\u2019s life"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Basket Making<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n

A weaver\u2019s life<\/h2>\n\n

Sussex maker Annemarie O\u2019Sullivan harvests her own willow withies, from which she weaves beautiful baskets inspired by ancient traditions<\/p>\n\n

Words: Norman Miller <\/p>\n\n

\"\"
Annemarie finds inspiration in traditional basketry and in the natural shape and movement of the growing willow, creating large-scale artworks as well as domestic baskets <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

S<\/span>pring sunshine spills into Annemarie O\u2019Sullivan\u2019s cosy wooden studio, lighting shelves and walls displaying beautiful baskets woven with willow, chestnut, sweet hazel and bamboo.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Annemarie works as we talk, sitting on the floor in a wide V-posture any dancer would be proud of, slowly weaving. The baskets she makes here in the Sussex village of Isfield, north of the medieval town of Lewes, have achieved global renown: she has exhibited them across Europe, the USA and Asia. Today, she is weaving grasses into an artistic, circular shape bound for an exhibition in Somerset, to accompany her coveted basketry that includes startling twiggy lampshades and one-o sculptural pieces.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cI want my baskets to get crumbs in them, to get worn… It feels important that they have a life\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

Despite her baskets\u2019 status as high-end craft, Annemarie wants them to be used, \u201cto get crumbs in them, to get worn, to get picked up by greasy hands. It does feel really important that they have a life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

Annemarie works primarily with willow, which she grows herself and harvests every January (see box, page 41) from a watery half-acre withy bed at nearby Horam. She works mainly with the purple willow, Salix <\/em>purpurea, <\/em>grown in several varieties with resonant names, such as \u2018Dicky Meadows\u2019 and \u2018Lancashire Dicks\u2019. \u201cI love these [varieties] because they are very slender and waxy,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n

\"\"
The willow in Annemarie\u2019s own beds was grown from cuttings given to her by fellow basketmakers <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n

Annemarie came to basketmaking late, and by chance. Having grown up in a small Irish town, she moved to England aged 17. By the age of 30 she was working as a school teacher, married with two young sons \u2013 and keenly aware of a desire for something more. An impulse decision to do a one-day basket-weaving course changed everything.<\/p>\n\n

MADE OF THE LANDSCAPE<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n

A part-time basketry training course followed at City Lit college in London \u2013 where she eventually became a teacher \u2013 to gain a bedrock of skills and an insight into the qualities of di erent materials.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cThe brilliant thing about basketmaking is that people used what they had \u2013 used what was accessible,\u201d explains Annemarie. \u201cSo if you go to mountainous regions in central Europe, it\u2019s all split wood and if you go to coastal regions, there\u2019s much more rush. Skill sets and materials that really relate to landscape.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

\"\"
Annemarie needs all the space her studio can o er when weaving large baskets; after building the base, Annemarie pulls up the ribs to create the shape; trimming the finished basket; the repetition of weaving creates a fluid and rhythmic movement<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

Now in her 50th year, Annemarie manages the physicality of her work by starting each day with stretching exercises, preparing herself for creative labour that can leave her aching \u2013 in a good way \u2013 at the end of a working day.<\/p>\n\n

For Annemarie, the movements involved in basket-weaving also link to another of her passions: wild swimming. \u201cThey\u2019re the same,\u201d she says, highlighting shared flowing movements \u2013 \u201cleft, right, over, under.\u201d Formerly a competitive swimmer in Ireland, today she ventures for hardy year-round ocean dips at Seaford on the coast, or enjoys the liquid embrace of the River Ouse as it winds through Isfield.<\/p>\n\n

\"\"
After soaking in water, rods are left to mellow before weaving<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

A RICHLY WOVEN TRADITION<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Annemarie considers basketmaking to be historically undervalued; it was seen as creating utilitarian \u201cthings for carrying other things\u201d, in contrast to decorative objects fashioned with higher status materials.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cIn the history of basketmaking, there were lots of di erent situations when baskets were made,\u201d she says. \u201cProfessional makers would make very precise kinds of shopping baskets or baskets for ladies to carry, and then agricultural makers would use the winter months to make rough baskets to be used for a single season. But all those people were highly skilled and had precious knowledge.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

\u201cI really like days when it\u2019s just me making a basket. I light the fire and it\u2019s just quiet\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

Passing on knowledge is vital to Annemarie, who o ers both paid apprenticeships in her studio and more ad hoc teaching in the wider community via regular courses. Her work builds on a centuries-old local basketmaking tradition exemplified by the Sussex trug, made using sweet chestnut frames with wide willow strips.<\/p>\n\n

Collaborative projects that involve learning and sharing skills are also crucial to Annemarie, be it a \u2018willow chair\u2019 made with furniture-maker Gareth Neal, or an incredible lightshade from a residency on Orkney, fashioned from rye straw (known there as taets). Annemarie also collects diverse pieces made by others, from a thickly woven chicken coop basket acquired in Orkney to work by admired contemporary <\/strong>makers, such as Cumbria\u2019s Lorna Singleton (lornasingleton. co.uk<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n

Annemarie is hopeful of a growing appreciation of the craft in the UK \u2013 catching up, perhaps, with attitudes in Japan. She remembers a Japanese basketmaker who bought one of her creations. \u201cHe came and looked maybe four or five times \u2013 then brought his whole family, and they all walked around the work, getting down to take it in from different levels… The consideration was so different. But the level is growing here. I think we\u2019re at a real turning point.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

Yet despite the complex history of basketmaking and the changing perceptions of its cultural value, Annemarie celebrates its essential humbleness. \u201cYou could make a basket with just sticks and a knife.\u201d That said, there are specialist tools that look and feel like ancient implements people would have used a millennia ago. For example, the horn (literally, a cow horn) is filled with lubricating material (previously it was tallow, today lanolin) in which to dip tools such as a bodkin. This is then used to open space in a weave to slip something through, such as handles.<\/p>\n\n

For Annemarie, there\u2019s a simple joy in interacting so physically with distinctive natural materials. \u201cIt\u2019s like a dance, with little quirks and tricks. Put your hand just there or put your foot just there. Tiny movements,\u201d she says. \u201cI really like days when it\u2019s just me making a basket… I come in here in the morning, light the fire and it\u2019s just quiet.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

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The stove-warmed studio was built by Annemarie\u2019s husband Tom McWalter, who has joined her full-time in the basketmaking business<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n
<\/div>
\n

A YEAR IN A WILLOW WEAVER\u2019S LIFE<\/span><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Planning and preparations are as integral to Annemarie\u2019s work as creativity. The willow needs planting, cutting and harvesting; it is then sorted by size and type, then dried. Harvesting occurs in January, when plants at her decade-old willow bed are cut down to ground level. The withies are sorted on site into bundles of similar lengths, discarding any that are diseased or have too much side branching. These are then dried slowly, outside in an airy atmosphere, until May, when they go into storage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the willow is required for weaving, it is rehydrated in a long water trough that runs along one side of Annemarie\u2019s studio \u2013 using a rule of thumb that for every foot of rod, you soak for a day. Rods are removed from the trough a day before weaving to give them a chance to mellow. They are then usable for two or three days; any rods not utilised in that time are discarded.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n\n

<\/div>
\n

LEARN TO WEAVE BASKETS<\/span><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Annemarie\u2019s short courses at her studio have sold out for 2022; annemarieosullivancourses.com<\/a>. But others across the UK, including the following, can be booked on craftcourses.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Make Your Own Traditional Sussex Trug <\/strong><\/strong>Two-day course at Mantel Farm near Battle in East Sussex; \u00a3218.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Willow Work <\/strong><\/strong>This five-day retreat is on the 100-acre Gartmore Estate in Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park, Scotland; \u00a3979 (includes room, board and pick-up from Stirling).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Ash Splint Basket Workshop <\/strong><\/strong>Two-day cottage-based \u2018Log to Basket\u2019 course at Corfe Mullen in deepest Dorset. Learn about weaving techniques used by native North American peoples; \u00a3185.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 English Oval Baskets <\/strong><\/strong>Two-day willow basket weaving workshop in a rugged setting near Carnforth, Yorkshire Dales; \u00a3160.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Asymmetric and Breton Baskets <\/strong><\/strong>One-day courses at Higher Barn near Exeter, making either a tall asymmetric basket or a round Breton basket; \u00a375.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Sacred Geometry and Hexagonal Weave Basketry <\/strong><\/strong>One-day course with New Age resonances, at Forest Row in Sussex. Create hexagonal weave basketry based on patterns, such as the harmonious golden ratio; \u00a380.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 English Willow Basketmaking <\/strong><\/strong>Over two days, make a shopping basket and bread basket at Norfolk Hedge Baskets, near Norwich; \u00a3140.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Hedgerow Basketmaking <\/strong><\/strong>In a barn at Usk Castle in Wales, weave a basket in a day using coloured wild hedgerow materials and several di erent weaving techniques; \u00a3105.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n\n

Norman Miller is an award-winning UK-based writer whose work has appeared in BBC.com, The Times, The Guardian and Daily Telegraph.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Photo: Alamy, Alun Callender\/Narratives<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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