JEANETTE GRAY

Although I am originally from Scotland, I now live in Mid Wales, where I offer courses locally. I specialise in using wild materials gathered from the landscape, and use weaving as a way of engaging with individuals and community groups who want to learn practical skills, connect with local green spaces, and explore their relationship with the natural world.

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I believe that weaving is a tactile way of approaching the issues facing our planet. By working with local materials, we come to understand the value of the places that sustain us through direct experience. Hand skills and time spent outdoors can also have a significant positive impact on wellbeing and mental health. Basketry offers a way of engaging with our complex heritage too- through the use of local materials combined with techniques found across the world, I think we can explore ideas of home, place and belonging. I am fascinated by the way knowledge, materials and making traditions have travelled between cultures for thousands of years, raising questions about who owns cultural knowledge, how skills are shared, and whose stories are remembered. These feel like particularly relevant conversations at a time when issues of access to land, identity and cultural heritage remain deeply contested. While rooted in tradition, basketry does not have to remain fixed in the past. I am interested in how heritage crafts can continue to evolve, responding to contemporary needs while maintaining connections to the people, places and histories from which they emerged.

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With a foundation in traditional skills, alongside a strong interest in participation and innovation, I feel passionately that basketry offers opportunities to create dynamic and socially engaged projects.