IPS Insights: Sculptural Form, Natural Color Basket Weaving Workshop

Have you ever wished you had support to take advantage of a professional or career development opportunity that lies outside the scope of your academic research? The UCSB Individualized Professional Skills (IPS) Program is designed to help graduate students and postdoctoral scholars fill in the funding gaps for pursuing opportunities that support your professional development in a variety of career trajectories.

IPS Insights: In our series, "IPS Insights," previous awardees share about their IPS-funded experiences in short informational videos. This week's featured video is by Hope Okere, a MFA student in the Art Department.

Hope used the IPS funds to attend a basket weaving workshop at the Haystack Mountain School of Craft. Watch the video to learn more!

In Hope's Words: What I Learned

"This summer I had the opportunity to stay as an artist at Haystack Mountain School of Craft in Deer Isle, Maine. I attend a workshop entitled Sculptural Form, Natural Color. The workshop was focused on basket weaving as well as the science behind natural dying. Professional Artists Dee Clements and Emily Endo were the expert teachers. I learned weave techniques such as plain weave, twining, three rod wale, and freeform. Learning natural dye methods was also a valuable lesson. It begins by scouring, then mordanting the reed for several hours in a Gallo Tannin and alum bath. The dye process involves letting the raw material boil for several hours, then filtering out the sediment to have dye bath of deeply color saturated hot water. The ingredients we used to make the natural dyes were cochineal, black walnut, madder root, Osage orange, indigo and foraged Alder tree leaves, birch bark, and bracken Fern. The combination of dyeing the reed custom colors and then using those unique tones to create our baskets, or dip dyeing a finished basket in an indigo bath, created stunning results. The entire process of weaving and dying was about a connection with the earth, sculpting with my hands-, pulling, pushing, and building, the over and under of the weave patterns, and submersions into water. The movement from wet to dry echoed the tides of the surrounding ocean. The processes were multifaceted and required time, labor and tending. The most valuable aspect of the experience was making friendships and building my community and network of like-minded artists. The benefit of this workshop is to keep the tradition of craft arts alive and relevant in today's art world and beyond. The art of basketry is over 34,000 years old, the oldest craft in human history. There is beauty and meaning in the passing of craft from teacher to student and from one generation to the next. After my experience at Haystack, I have new skills that I can use to create my fiber art sculptures. I plan to continue using basket weaving and natural dying; and to study craft arts in different communities around the world. "

IPS Program Overview

Awards up to $1000 are granted to eligible UCSB graduate students and postdoctoral scholars from any discipline who wish to individually tailor their career paths with outside professional development opportunities. The purpose of the IPS program is to help grad students and postdocs take greater agency in their own career path by funding exploration of a range of professional development opportunities across a variety of career and skill interests.

The IPS Program is a collaboration between the Professional Development Series at the Center for Science and Engineering Partnerships; Graduate Division; the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion; UCSB Innovation and Entrepreneurship Initiative and CNSI Technology Incubator; Career Services; UCSB's divisional deans; and external donors. Learn more about the program here!