The Weaver’s Circle November: Basket weaving with foraged fibres
A four-hour basket weaving workshop facilitated by Shelley Krycer and Emily Steele
Saturday, November 12 2022
11am - 3pm
$120 / $100 concession or bring a friend
One ticket exchange available
Every culture of the world has, in its current form or its history, a practice of basket making. We all have an imprint in our ancestral lines of forming vessels out of the materials available from the good earth; the grasses, reeds, branches, vines and bark fibres from local plants.
Like many of us living upon these lands, our own direct cultural lineages of weaving practices sadly have not remained intact. We follow the threads back in time to discover our own stories, lineages and weaving histories. We find that engaging in basket weaving slowly, slowly, stitch by stitch, evokes the ancestral memories that lie waiting to be rediscovered.
We also listen to our hands, our bodies and our hearts as we work together with plants to weave them into form. We use hand gathered fibres because it helps us listen to the landscape around us. As we befriend each plant through weaving, we come to know who they are and how they shift and change with heavy rain, with no rain, with sunshine, with heat. Stitch by stitch we form a relationship.
We invite you to join us at The Weaver’s Circle to remember the practice of weaving vessels with foraged fibres. This practice of slow creation by hand, working in circle with a mindfully gathered harvest brings us to ways of being, and ways of being together, that have been active in our human history longer than they have been dormant. Unlike the fast-paced interactions which are the dominant culture’s default, when weaving together we enter a space that moves much slower, feels softer, and is more wholehearted.
The Weaver’s Circle is a four hour workshop at Emily’s home in Kangaroo Ground on Wurundjeri Country. There, sitting at the hearth, with a steaming tea in hand, you’ll be introduced to a coil basket weaving technique that originates from Scotland - which we share with permission from our original teacher. As you find your rhythm we’ll revive ways of being together derived from our own cultures allowing for song, storytelling and aspects of ritual to deepen our connection with the plant fibres, ourselves, our ancestral lineages and each other. Along the way we’ll teach you about respectful fibre harvesting and processing, and how to create different basket shapes and forms.
You will leave the workshop with the basket you’ve started, a bundle of fibre so you can continue it at home, and the ability to start weaving baskets with fibre you harvest and process yourself. More than that, we hope you’ll leave with an embodied experience of the familiarity of this craft, and the way in which, in the words of Toko-pa Turner, it offers a path for remembering ourselves home.
Testimonials from past participants
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for the brilliant and soulful weaving day. My heart is still singing from the day. Your offerings, your philosophy, your passion, your knowledge, the way you speak about relationship with plant-people. All of it resonates with me so deeply. I am looking forward to connecting again with you and your offerings in the future.
- Katia
Thanks so much for the workshop. You (Shelley) and Emily were bubbling with delight and deep connection to your hands.
- Susanna
Who this workshop is suitable for
You don’t need any experience in weaving or any particular creative process to attend this workshop, just a curiosity and a feeling that this practice speaks to you. On the other hand, we anticipate that creators, makers, artists and weavers will find this circle offers nourishment; be it the techniques, knowledge shared about harvesting and preparation processes or the simple act of creating and connecting within the circle. Feel free to reach out if you would like to discuss if this workshop is suitable for you.
Our approach to cultural sensitivity and respect
We are not Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have developed and refined basket weaving practices over millennia, and these practices remain the intellectual property of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. We are happy to refer you to master weavers who you can learn from and remunerate fairly for their work.
We stand as strong allies to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and strive to avoid cultural appropriation in our offerings as workshop facilitators. We give thanks to the indigenous weavers who have generously spent time talking to us about culturally respectful ways for non-indigenous people to share basketry skills in so-called Australia, and for sharing their stories and experiences with us.
In our workshops we
teach techniques that come from our European heritages or ones we have been given explicit permission to share;
share songs, stories and ritual that come from our European heritages, we have been given explicit permission to share, or are widely accessible within published works; and
clearly explain the origin of weaving techniques, songs, stories and rituals that we share, and any permissions that have been given to us in order for us to share.
We will continue to strive for cultural sensitivity and respect in our workshops and our lives more broadly. We commit to listening deeply and respectfully to indigenous voices, and to examining our own cultural blindspots and how we may subconsciously carry racist views. We are willing to lean into our own discomfort in order to do this work and we are willing to be challenged by and changed by this journey.
Ticket exchange
We have one exchange place listed on Humanitix. The exchange will involve harvesting some plant material. Please reach out to Shelley at shelleykrycer@gmail.com to discuss before claiming this ticket.
Accessibility
The workshop may be held in- or outdoors, depending on the weather.
If indoors, the venue is wheelchair accessible; however please note parking is around 100 metres from the venue on a hilly road.
If outdoors, you will need to traverse around 200 metres from your car on undulating, uneven ground to get to the workshop location.
If either option is a barrier for you please let us know so we can discuss accommodating your needs.
Sickness
We ask that you please don’t come to the workshop if you have any cold, flu or COVID-like symptoms.
Feel free to wear a mask at the event if you would like to.
Photography
Photographs may be taken during this workshop. By attending, you provide consent to be photographed and to having these photographs used for promotional purposes only. Please inform us if you wish to be excluded.
Facilitator bios
Shelley Krycer
Shelley is a visual artist and Steiner educator based on Boon Wurrung country who came to basket weaving over a decade years ago. When she did, Shelley found that her hands had a sense of ‘returning’ to something that they had long known. They wove and wove, and continue to weave, with a sense of remembering and learning with each stitch. Working as she does primarily with wild harvested and home grown plant materials has brought an additional layer to her practice of foraging and gardening as an ongoing, living relationship with the natural world. Through her weaving practice Shelley finds that she is able to listen to, observe, participate and deepen her sensitivity to the eco-systems around her working cyclically across the seasons. Shelley’s process-based art making practice which includes basket weaving alongside painting and other nature based art processes is informed by trainings within a Fine Arts (Hons) degree she completed in 2004 (Monash University) as well as studies in Art Education (Grad Dip Ed. Melbourne University), Permaculture (Advanced PDC with Peter Allen) and Steiner Education (Advanced Diploma, Melbourne Rudolf Steiner Seminar). She also draws inspiration from rituals and mythology from her own European Jewish heritage. Shelley has been teaching art and facilitating workshops over the past 18 years and sharing basket weaving workshops over the past 8. She has been invited to bring this work to festivals such as Seven Sisters and The Village Continuum, as part of programs hosted by Nature’s Apprentice as well as facilitating weaving circles for groups of people at significant moments and transitions. Shelley is continuously moved by the depth of presence, nourishment, connection and joy that sharing these processes and practices in circles brings.
instagram: @shelleykrycer
fb: Shelley Krycer - artist
Emily Steele
Emily is a nature-based artist and animist living on Woiwurrung country who first came to basket weaving eight years ago. In her basketry practice she seeks to work with the plant people living near her home to bring into form expressions that carry the mystery of soulful collaboration, and the beauty and preciousness of the land on which she lives. Emily has been a student and practitioner of nature connection, ceremony, ritual and ancestral healing for around the same time period, having studied with teachers such as Bill Plotkin and the Animus Valley Institute, the School of Lost Borders, the Somatic Wilderness Therapy Institute, Nature’s Apprentice, Nature Philosophy, Daniel Foor and Francis Weller. She has followed her love of nature-based art and craft and natural, sustainable textiles and fashion for many years and has studied amongst other forms loom weaving, natural dyeing and mineral mud-dyeing with teachers including Aboubakar Fofana and Ilka White. She holds soulful spaces for connection to self, other humans and the natural world, has trained with the School of Lost Borders as a vision quest guide and is an associate facilitator with Nature’s Apprentice. In her basketry practice Emily is passionate about deepening her connection to plants growing around her home and exploring her Scottish and European Jewish ancestral connection to basket weaving. She has recently started teaching basketry and is looking forward to introducing others to this incredibly rich practice. Alongside the above, Emily has a PhD in epidemiology and works in policy and research in the domestic and family violence sector.
Instagram: @emilyjsteele
We respectfully acknowledge the Wurundjeri People of the Kulin Nation, who are the Traditional Owners of the land on which this workshop will be run, pay respect to their Elders past, present and emerging, and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded.