Go wild with weaving

Golden Bay April 13-14

Includes: weaving using NZ flax/harakeke; plaiting and twining techniques; weaving with recycled copper; wire weave nests using driftwood and natural fibres; coiling and stitching; functional traditional willow basket-making.

April 15-16

Includes: knotless netting techniques; weaving using NZ flax/harakeke; wrapping and coiling with varied fibres and/or fabric materials; weaving with recycled copper. www.gowildwithweaving.co.nz/2019 Above: Go Wild With Weaving organiser and tutor Nicola Basham, shows off one of the woven flax shopping bags that will be made during this year’s courses.

Plastic shopping bags are out. The answer to carrying your groceries is to make a sustainable, reusable one out of a time-honoured, traditional material, says weaver Nicola Basham.

A large shopping bag made from flax, modelled above, is one of the unique projects participants at this year’s Go Wild With Weaving courses will learn to make with professional Golden Bay-based flax artist, Maureen Harte.

“People will be able to make one or two baskets over the two days,” says Nicola. “They can embellish them with paua or a koro, buttons or pieces of driftwood.”

How to make a flax bag is one of the Go Wild with Weaving workshops, which will run at Collingwood Area High School in Golden Bay in April.

Other tutors include Australian weaver Ann Mcmahon who does a lot of large sculptures, and has works in the Canberra Museum and Gallery.

NZ artist Jasmine Clark will lead classes in copper wire weaving. Her award-winning sculptures use a variety of materials, including bull kelp, willow and found items.