Harvest with Veronica Main & others

Harvest, an online talk with Hilary Burns, Felicity Irons, Nathalie Seiller Dejean, QEST Scholar Veronica Main and Karolina Merska

September is the month when the summers harvest is gathered, organised and processed. Harvest has long been a pivotal time of year. Although we may now be more removed from the cycles of harvest, our speakers still work closely with the materials it provides. Being the last remaining rush weavers, Felicity Irons not only continues this ancient craft but also harvests the materials herself. She will share with us her experiencing of harvesting and how understanding the harvesting of materials informs her weaving practice. Hilary Burns will follow, sharing her practice, preserving and reviving traditional basketmaking and green-woodwork techniques. Our discussions of harvest will continue with Nathalie Seiller-Dejean, whose ornaments and accessories use techniques from straw work and basketmaking, using a wide range of rare and unique materials to create fashion pieces. QEST Scholar Veronica Main will share her extensive work on straw work which started by making corn dollies, spanning a range of decorative straw techniques and, more recently, straw hat plaiting. She draws on strong historical knowledge of the subject and practical experience of straw work. Karolina Merska will finish the presentations with her ornamental Pajaki (pah-yonk-ee), traditional Polish chandeliers made from rye straw and paper.