As part of the 25th annual Mountain Harvest Festival celebration last month in Paonia, several artists demoed their process. For KVNF, Laura Palmisano speaks to North Fork Valley artist Jeff Wagner, who showcased basket weaving.
Palmisano: What are you teaching here today?
Wagner: Yeah, we have a willow basketry class going, and this is the third day. We're finishing up our second basket, weaving some market shopping baskets with handles, and then we're going to start weaving backpack baskets.
Palmisano: Why weave baskets? That seems like a lot of work.
Wagner: It is a lot of work. I think people in general have lost our relationship with local materials and things that connect us to place. Willow basketry is something that uses a really abundant local material—willow—and it taps into traditions of my ancestors. Most people's ancestors wove some kind of baskets, so we're weaving Northern European-style baskets here. It's a great connection with the materials that we use in our daily lives.
Palmisano: How did you get into this?
Wagner: I was living in South America and teaching study abroad programs. I started weaving cloth there and did some basketry, and coming back to the U.S., I was looking for material to weave with and started getting into cattail weaving a little bit. Moving to Paonia during the pandemic, I started harvesting a lot of willow because it was around. It's just been a nonstop journey of learning since then.
Palmisano: And is this your full-time business?
Wagner: I run a nonprofit called Groundwork, and we have an educational farm here in town out on Black Bridge Road. I do a lot of different education work. Getting more into basketry, there's a lot of demand for these classes. I've taught all over Colorado and Wyoming, and I can't seem to offer enough classes. So it's becoming more full-time.
Palmisano: Do you find that rewarding?
Wagner: I love teaching basketry. I think that having people sit down with a material that's pretty challenging to work with and be able to walk away with a really beautiful product after a day or two days is really satisfying. People get connected with their hands and with the earth through the materials. It's just great.
Palmisano: Do you sell your baskets as an artist?
Wagner: I do sell baskets, and I'm starting to do more of that. I'm doing a couple of holiday markets this fall, one in Basalt and one in Fort Collins.
Palmisano: Is this the first kind of demonstration you've had at the Mountain Harvest Festival?
Wagner: Yeah, at the Harvest Festival, it is. Through Groundwork, we have this willow basketry class, we're running a woodworking class with Wild the Woodworker today in his studio, and then tomorrow there's a pine needle basket class here in the park. We're trying to expand the offerings that are put out to the community.
Palmisano: And how long does it take to make one of the market baskets like the one in front of us?
Wagner: It depends on your experience level. An experienced weaver could weave this in maybe two hours. For most of the folks in the class, it's taken most of the day.
Palmisano: How many people do you have in your class this time around?
Wagner: We have seven people right now.
Palmisano: Are they from the Paonia area or from all over?
Wagner: They're mostly not from Paonia. I designed it to attract people from outside the valley, so we have folks who came from New Mexico, the Front Range, California—people from all over. There really aren't basketry classes being offered within 1,000 miles of here.
Palmisano: So where are your fellow basket weavers?
Wagner: Well, there's Faith Markell, and she's selling baskets today at the Harvest Festival, but I don't know where the other basket weavers are. It's mostly the two of us here in town. Ryan Strand does some sculptural basketry, but I think a community this size should have more basket weavers.
Palmisano: When I was younger, my mom would joke with me, "You can study basket weaving so you actually can make a living doing it!"
Wagner: It's true—although it's not underwater.
