Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Shannon Lucas-Westrum. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Shannon thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

My most meaningful project to date was a “pilgrimage” I took to rural Ireland. As creatives, especially in a field with thousands of years of history, our journey is to bridge technique and skill with vision. After 20 years or so as a primarily solitary artist, I was longing to research my ancestry in a hands-on way. After researching and studying basketry in Ireland as a way to connect my work to my own heritage, I found Mr Joe Hogan. Joe researched regional weaving techniques across Ireland and learned from the traditional weaving masters. His book is the definitive work on the subject. I had tried to enroll in a couple workshops he had been teaching in the United States, but they were always full. After repeated attempts, I combined an artist residency and an artist fellowship to spend 2 weeks in a tiny rural village in the mountains of Co Mayo, and 2 weeks in a medieval castle in Co Kilkenny, Ireland. In the beginning, I was able to practice traditional Irish Willow Basketmaking with the legendary (in willow weaving) Joe and his son Ciaran Hogan. I worked on traditional pieces like donkey creels (sidesaddles) and a skib, or Irish potato basket. I worked alongside beginners and full-time basket makers, speaking in both English and Irish. It was an absolutely unforgettable experience. One of my fellow Basketmakers was weaving the same style bowl as I, but Andrew was from Donegal and spoke Irish. That meant Joe demonstrated in both languages, giving me the opportunity to try to reason out the next step before it was my turn. I learned a lot from him as a teaching artist and still hear some of his go-to sayings while I weave. My favorite is “Is that a thought or a question?” Based on my facial expression and said when I was observing a lesson taught in Irish.
From there, armed with bundles of pre-soaked willow sent by Joe, headed to Kilkenny to Shankill Castle, the home of Artist Elizabeth Cope. Elizabeth allowed me to use her summer studio during my residency, where we explored the ruins, castles and towns during the day, and I wove at night. I also spent a day with basket maker Heike Kahle exploring newer techniques and materials. I was able to produce more than 25 pieces and mailed most of them back to Minnesota.
The day the boxes arrived at the post office, my husband and I rushed into town to pick them up. Everything was packed into 2 large boxes, wrapped in new wool sweaters and blankets. The first box looked fairly good from the outside. In my excitement, I started unpacking in the middle of the post office parking lot. Then my husband brought out the second box- half smashed with a torn corner. I was so distraught, I asked him to open it.
Pulling one piece at a time out of the box, with tears in my eyes, we discovered every single basket survived!!! Most of then surround me every day.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My love of texture and fibers started when I convinced our elderly neighbor to teach me to crochet as a child. I spent hours creating with yarn, wood, beads, paper, and leather. From there, it was a continuous weave of materials and techniques, adding some here, discarding there. I was a maker. I began serious practice as a basket maker in my early 20’s with local community education and fiber arts guilds. When I became a mom, I divided my time between work and my girls, so art took an intermission. Five years later, a my small daughter looked up at me and doubted my claim that I did, in fact, make the basket in her hands. She had never seen me create anything, not really, in her entire life. I made the decision in that moment that I wanted my daughters to understand all that we could do together. We made a change and I re-embraced a creative life. I began weaving at home, developing my own style. Then seeking out opportunities to learn wherever I could find them.
I started working as a teaching artist through our local community education program, teaching leather and wore-owrk, jewelry making, acrylic painting and anything else they needed for their “creative” classes. At this time, my family and I started a gift shop, Shannon’s Art & Soul, which featured my own work, as well as other local artist and some fair trade goods. This transitioned into a time where I began to really focus on basketry.

My work is a blend of cultures, traditions, and technical skills. I’ve spent years asking questions about culture and tradition and how I represent them in my art. I live in an area surrounded by Native lands, and in fact grew up learning Ojibwe art in school, as it was the only art instruction available to me other than drawing or painting. I no longer work with those art forms as they are not mine culturally. This lead me to search for, and pursue, learning traditional European weaving techniques and materials, learning from weavers from around the United States, from Spain, and Denmark.

I am now exploring the fusion of modern and traditional techniques with locally sourced materials as they apply to art basketry. It’s not unusual for a family excursion to include my teenagers beach combing for driftwood and interesting rocks, or into the forest to collect grasses, tree barks, antlers, and rushes. I’m moved to create unique sculptural shapes that flow with and emphasize the natural elements I’ve used as my focal points. These materials are combined with primary materials of round reed (rattan) or willow to create both sculptural pieces and those with practical uses. As an artist from a small rural area, the bridge between art and craft is a narrow one that I want to continue to explore. Art basketry falls into uncharted waters, fiber arts, mixed media, sculpture; it varies piece by piece.
I am recently working on an art basketry project/exhibition thanks to an Creative Support Grant from the Minnesota State arts Board. My theme is representation of life in the Northwoods of Minnesota. This project includes a teaching component where I am using antlers, driftwood, rattan and local grasses to instruct 6 workshops to adults around the region.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

I really wish I knew how to convince society of the value of creatives, artists, etc in our lives. With the alarming rise in AI generated work, with artwork stolen and reproduced by underpaid labor around the world, we need now, more than ever, creative minds. We need to remain connected to our roots yet learn to adapt to a world that desperately needs new ideas, needs to see real truth, needs to feel connected.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

My goal in my artistic journey is not just to promote my own work, but to learn continuously. Not just techniques, but people, places, tradition and change. I am a strong advocate for traditional arts. I promote my contemporaries as much as my own work. I see a trend to experiential living that I will forever encourage. You want to learn to crochet, knit, sew, make candles, work in wood, silver or wire? I’ll teach you. If you need more than I can give, I’ll help you find them. Adults are notoriously difficult as art students because they are afraid to experiment. They are afraid to not excel. That’s not a world I teach in. We’re going to try new things, dare to fail, and be proud of our efforts – and have fun doing it.

Contact Info:

• Website: ShannonLucasWestrum.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wildflowerdesignstudios/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ShannonLucasWestrum.Artist/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shannon-lucas-westrum-46ab0127/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@wildflowerstudios/featured
• Other: WildflowerCottageShop.com

Image Credits
Shannon Lucas Westrum for all baskets, Logan Westrum for Bio Pic