Basket Workshop: Traditional English Willow Bushel Basket

Traditional English Willow Baskets

On the last weekend in February the Woods Hole Public Library will host a workshop led by nationally celebrated artisan  Bonnie Gale. She will teach the skills required to weave a traditional English willow bushel basket, 20 inches in diameter by 14 inches tall. It will be a very  functional basket made in unpeeled willow with a replaceable foot and two  handles. Bonnie will teach the participants how to make the basket using traditional tools and materials. The class will be held from 9-5 Saturday and Sunday February 25 & 26 at the Woods Hole Public library. By the end of the weekend, all participants will have finished their own bushel basket.

Last autumn, librarian Nancy Cloos Babin, who has made many baskets, including large Nantucket  baskets, traveled  the 6 hours to central area of New York to attend a weekend long session with Bonnie Gale to learn how to work with willow. There she created a willow basket, about 20  inches long and  10 inches tall. She was so thrilled with the experience, by the teaching and the technology, that she was inspired to encourage the Library to offer a class here on Cape Cod. 

Ms. Gale, who is this country’s foremost expert in this craft, has been perfecting her art

for the past 29 years, first studying with some of the last authentic willow basket makers in England. She has degrees in City Planning and Landscape Architecture, but her obvious devotion is to basket weaving. She has taught throughout the United States and England, and also published many articles about willow basketry and even started an organization of gardeners interested in growing willow in this country. To assist people in creating their own baskets, she has started a company English Basketry Willows which sells tools and imports willows, prepared in several traditional ways: peeled, boiled, dried, and steamed to give different effects.

As Ms. Gale says “When I started English Basketry Willows in the early 1980's, basketry was in its infancy in the United States and few people had been exposed to the basket willows imported from Europe. The response and interest was very positive and soon thereafter, I searched out the specific traditional willow basketry tools and started collecting books on willow basketry. The finest tools and books have been gathered from many countries.

“I visited England (where I had been born) and spent time with professional willow basket-makers in order to learn the skills of traditional willow basketry. The process of education is continual and my commitment to learning the techniques of willow work is for this lifetime. I have developed a repertoire of baskets over the years although much of my time is spent doing custom work. I work in the traditional manner using the traditional tools and working position, and I believe in making strong, functional baskets.

“I enjoy sharing my knowledge and travel far afield to teach traditional willow work. I live in Central New York, which has a strong legacy of willow growing and willow basketry.”

 Most recently she has created living sculptures, training willows into three dimensional shapes planted in formal landscapes. Once in place, the willows root, sprout, and grow out to fill in the shape. Her work has appeared in House and Garden magazine (March 2006), Vogue Living (Fall/Winter 2006) and Vogue (January 2012). Her work is exhibited nationally and she is the recipient of a great number of awards, including a NYFA Artist's Fellowship in 1999.

In the workshop in Woods Hole, participants will be using traditional tools (bodkin, grease horn, and rapping  iron) and willow imported from Europe.  The fee for the class, which is $ 266, includes the use of  tools and materials. Also included will be tea-time on Saturday and Sunday and a catered buffet dinner on Saturday.

As Library director Margaret McCormick says “I am delighted to have  a teacher/craftsman of this caliber to our area  and the opportunity to participate in this workshop without having to drive hundreds of miles.”

This two day workshop will be preceded by a Friday evening lecture, February 24 at 7:30 at the Woods Hole Public Library.  Bonnie Gale who will present an illustrated talk about the history, practice and creation of traditional English willow baskets, and also about  her live sculptures. A reception will follow, allowing everyone a chance to talk to Ms. Gale. The talk will be open to the public  for a $10 donation, and is included in the fee for the workshop participants. People are encouraged to sign up for the workshop soon, as only 12 people may attend.  For more information, call the Woods Hole Public Library at 508-548-8961 or check out their website at www.woodsholepubliclibrary.org.