Weaving Space

Riverside weaving circles

A three-hour basket weaving circle for those who have previously attended a basket weaving workshop or have a weaving practice of their own.

Location: By the river in Warrandyte, with an indoor space nearby as a wet-weather alternative. The location will be shared upon booking.

There will be a small selection of basket weaving materials available to share along with tea. You’re welcome to bring along any particular fibres or materials you’d like to work with, especially if you have a specific project in mind.  

Please bring a picnic rug, cushion or suitable seating.

When our hands begin to weave within a circle, something like a remembering takes place.

Across all of our ancestral lines - some closer, some further away - there is a long history of working alongside the natural world to make the beautiful and essential things of everyday life.

There is a particular rhythm to weaving: the feel of plant fibres moving through our hands, the quiet concentration of working alongside one another, conversation bubbling up before gently settling into silence, and then rising again. These rhythms feel deeply familiar, as though something within us recognises them.

Weaving in a circle offers a chance to return to this kind of knowing, and to weave these strands back together, in the company of others.

Weaving Space is an informal gathering for returning to your basket weaving practice. Bring along a basket you’ve already begun, revisit a technique you’d like to strengthen, or start something new. There will be space to ask questions, explore materials, revisit aspects of harvesting and preparation, and receive support as your weaving unfolds.

These circles have grown from a longing expressed by many who have attended my workshops: for opportunities to keep weaving beyond the workshop itself, to return to the skills and techniques we’ve begun to learn, and to spend unhurried time making alongside others.

There is no formal project to complete and no expectation to keep pace with anyone else. Just time, materials, shared knowledge and the quiet pleasure of weaving together.

Perhaps, most of all, these circles offer an opportunity to deepen our sensitivity to the plant world and to Country; to become more attentive to the lives and rhythms of the places we inhabit, and to find ourselves woven more gently into the landscape. Through this growing attentiveness, may we become more thoughtful and responsible in our relationship with the lands that hold us.

 Cultural sensitivity

We must acknowledge that there is complexity in working with weaving on stolen land; a practice that is so culturally rich and intertwined with the sacred. I acknowledge the traditional practices of Indigenous weavers who have woven these lands since time immemorial and have developed and refined basket weaving practices over this time. I am not an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person and Indigenous weaving, stories and lore is not the content of this circle. I stand as an ally to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, striving to avoid cultural appropriation in my offerings as a workshop facilitator and in my life more broadly. I am happy to refer you to Indigenous weavers who you can learn from and remunerate fairly for their work if this is what you seek.

Facilitator bio

 Shelley Krycer is a visual artist based on Wurundjeri country who came to basket weaving over 15 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 foraged and home grown plant materials has brought an additional layer to her practice; 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 (Honours) 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). Shelley has been teaching art and facilitating workshops since 2004 and sharing basket weaving workshops since 2014. 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
facebook: Shelley Krycer - artist
website: www.shelleykrycer.com
email: hello@shelleykrycer.com

I 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.

Weaving Space - Riverside weaving circles

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