My Story — Willowbrook Basket Farm

Looking back on my childhood, I can recognize an innate connection with weaving. Small projects that kept my hands busy were not only a source of pleasure, but of something deeper within; one of the very essential parts of who I am today.

Basketry arrived in my life after many years of struggling to find my way. I built a life and home, only to discover I was chasing and facilitating the dreams of others. It wasn't until I found the strength to walk away from the life I had created, that I began to soar in beautiful new directions.

Basket making has connected me deeply to the roots of our ancestors, and the miraculous connection to the natural world around us. Basketry is as old as humanity; a universal skill that over the centuries presented both as an essential hand craft and expressive art form. It's a skill that remains alive and well today, although lost among the fast pace of ever evolving technology.

To practice and teach this intentional and ancient skill has brought a sense of peace and purpose in my life. Growing and harvesting willow creates an awareness of the natural rhythms of the seasons. The calculated and methodical movements of basket making are a sorely needed meditation, in a world that seldomly slows down.

I am a maker in search of simplicity. A mother of two boys. A licensed massage therapist. A kayak fanatic. A wild yeast bread baker. A mushroom hunter, teacher, photographer, seed saver and dreamer.

My experience as an artist has only just begun, but isn't the utmost joy found in watching the seed grow?

“We are a part an extension of our predecessors, the newest buds on an ancient, living tree. If we do not reach up to the sun and down into the soil for nourishment to help the tree grow, we have not been faithful to the trust invested in us. ”

— Bill Coperthwaite