JCCFS: Tell us a little bit about yourself. What’s your background in your medium? How did you get started?

LB: I’ve been making and teaching art using wheat straw for over 30 years. Through the Pennsylvania Council on the. Arts, I’ve been an Artist in Residence in several schools in Pennsylvania. In those settings, I team teach with their Art Teacher. All students make a piece of straw work that is their own to keep and all students work on a collaborative, permanent installation piece that stays in the school. As a Master Artisan with the Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen, I authored a how-to book: Wheat Weaving and Straw Art which is one book in the Heritage Crafts Series Today published by Stackpole Books. I have taught my own, original designs at the National Association of Wheat Weavers’ annual Convention.

JCCFS: Tell us more about your class’s specific technique or process.

LB: Wheat straw can be plaited, made into paper, split into sections to make delicate stars, spun into threads for lace making, flattened and glued to a backing material and cut into shapes, it is much more than straw hats. In the week long session, each of these techniques will be introduced with participants finding their own favorite way to use straw.

Photos from last year’s Wheat Weaving class with Linda

Examples of Linda’s “Thorns & Roses” Pieces

Examples of Linda’s “Ruby Pearl” Pieces

JCCFS: What can students expect to leave your class with?

LB: You will be surprised what can be made from straw. It is guaranteed that you will not look at a wheat field the same as before the class. Some history of straw work will be shared and you will have the opportunity to explore those techniques. Everyone will leave with a few completed projects. At the first in person class I taught at the JCCFS, a wheat weaving participant and her husband who was taking a wood turning class, worked together to combine wood and wheat in a single finished project. A week long class at the Folk School is a great way to learn something new.

JCCFS: What do you enjoy most about The Folk School?

LB:The non-competitive atmosphere is the very best. Having meals in a community setting is amazing and inspiring as everyone enjoys sharing what they are doing for the week.

JCCFS: Where do you draw inspiration for your work?

LB: My straw work has always been plait oriented. I like the repetition of plaiting (folding the straws together in a pattern). Having my hands on straw all the time, gives me lots of time to explore ideas that come my way from other weavers, nature, or my own thoughts.

JCCFS: What’s one piece or craft object you’ve made recently that you are proud of, and why? 

LB:Thorns and Roses and Ruby Pearl are two unique pieces I’ve completed this past year. Elaine Lindsay of Something Corny in Scotland and I have collaborated via. Email and photos to create these unique pieces. We then taught those pieces together over zoom as a way of giving back to the straw community and sharing our combined 70 years with straw. Elaine has been plaiting for 40 years; I’ve been painting for 30 years. Thorns and Roses using straw paper and nodes of the straw stem to form the design. Ruby Pearl is a Pixie!

JCCFS: What tips would you give a student or aspiring craftsperson? Anything you wish you had known earlier in your career? 

LB: Just do it. I worked on my own with a book for 5 years. I didn’t think I knew enough to attend the National Association of Wheat Weavers Convention – that was very wrong. I should have gone the very first year I plaited.