Weave a Coiled Straw Basket: Workshop with Charlie Kennard

Here is a real treat of a workshop with weaving expert, Charles (Charlie) Kennard. Enjoy a delightful day full of hands-on learning in Heron Hall and around the peaceful Laguna Environmental Center grounds. Participants will have the choice of using a roadside grass, native deer grass (Muhlenbergia rigens), or rush (Juncus effusus), to begin a bowl-shaped basket made in a skep (bee-hive) weaving technique. Such containers can be used for honeybee swarm-catchers, for holding fruit or for dough-rising. We will be treated with bread fresh from the oven, and honey samples. 

$80. Pre-registration required: Lagunafoundation.org 

 Charlie Kennard of San Anselmo is a long-time basket weaver and student of California Indian and European techniques. He has taught for the Miwok Archeological Preserve of Marin (MAPOM), Point Reyes Field Institute, East Bay Regional Parks Botanic Garden, and in many schools and at teacher trainings. Tule boats made in his workshops can be seen at the California Academy of Sciences, the Bay Model in Sausalito, the Oakland Museum, and our own Heron Hall. You can also visit a basketry plant garden he has created at the Marin Art and Garden Center in Ross. Charlie is active in native habitat restoration in Marin, managing several projects for Friends of Corte Madera Creek Watershed.