Peat Basket Workshop

Peat Basket Workshop with Jeanette Gray

What can a basket tell us about the landscape in which it was made?

In communities where peat was gathered for fuel, baskets developed in response to both the work they needed to do and the materials available close at hand. In remote places especially, basketmaking reflects a close knowledge of local plants, resources and ways of working.

Drawing on Jeanette Gray’s recent research into peat-carrying baskets and basket traditions in Scotland, particularly the Northern Isles, this workshop explores the relationship between landscape, material, necessity and form. It also connects these traditions back to the peatland landscapes of Wales, including the Dyfi area where Jeanette lives and works.

Participants will make a miniature basket inspired by traditional peat-carrying forms, using techniques found in basket traditions across the UK.

Alongside the practical making, we will consider how baskets can act as records of place: shaped by what grows locally, what people needed to carry, and the knowledge developed through living and working within particular landscapes.

Developed in response to Manon Awst and Dylan Huw’s Sownd, the workshop offers a hands-on way to explore some of the project’s wider themes around peatland, material, place and cultural memory.

No previous basketmaking experience is required. All materials and tools will be provided.

Workshop length: Full day 10am - 5pm
Ability: No previous experience required
Age: Adults / 16+

Please bring a packed lunch

Responses to Sownd

This workshop is part of a public programme exploring the themes and ideas presented in Manon Awst and Dylan Huw's Wales in Venice Exhibition.

About Jeanette Gray

Jeanette Gray is a basketmaker and facilitator originally from Scotland and now based in Machynlleth, Mid Wales. She has been weaving since 2012 and completed a two-year professional training in basketry at City Lit in London.

Her practice centres on wild and locally gathered materials, exploring the relationships between making, landscape, heritage and place. She is particularly interested in living traditions: how skills and knowledge are carried forward, adapted and given new meaning rather than simply preserved.

Through her own making and community work, Jeanette uses basketry as a practical way to engage with the plants and places around us, and to explore wider questions about belonging, land and our relationship with the natural world.