Wainger Workshop!
This March, I will be hosting a “Wavy Weaving Workshop” at the Cranbrook Museum of Art. The workshop will whiz by in two quick hours, but the occasion still feels meaningful in a way I haven’t fully processed. Cranbrook — between the Academy of Art and the Museum, not to mention its Science Center, Schools and campus — is an Institution. I’ve been in Cranbrook’s orbit for over 20 years and dipped in as a visitor, a vendor, a friend, but this feels different.
In the world of fiber arts, and sculptural basketry in particular, it holds a certain kind of reverence. This is where Ed Rossbach and Lillian Elliott went to school. Their works are housed in the permanent collections. Treasures.
As much as I have this relationship with the place and deep admiration for the work that has come out of it, I’ve put that all aside as I think about the wavy weaving...
Making stuff with our hands should be fun and playful.
Learning how to make baskets has only ever been a delightfully rewarding process for me, so that’s what I’m hoping this can be.
We only have two super short but sweet hours! So, an opportunity to learn basic techniques that people can take away and riff on.
With that in mind, sharing just two of my favorite sculptural baskets, by Lillian Elliott and Ed Rossbach, as inspiration below. I think they are both utterly playful - inviting and accessible - but offer conversation about form, shape, weight, negative space, materials (look at those staples!) and I cannot wait to dig in.
Lillian Elliott, Open Form, 1988-1989, cane and linen
Ed Rossbach, Untitled
