Kilkenny's newest sculpture to be crafted from willow by the community - this weekend

A traditional skill is set to take on a whole, new image with the creation of a community sculpture, in Callan this weekend.
Lengths of willow that are more familiarly used to make baskets will be turned to a new shape, to be enjoyed by all ages.
Leading the project is Renate Wildenhof, a master willow weaver.

Renate moved from Germany to Ireland in the mid 90s to work in the Camphill Communities in Kilkenny, Wexford and Tipperary, and brought her skills with her.

“I’ve made baskets all my life,” she says. After her professional training in social therapy and teaching, back in Germany, Renate began to teach herself the skill. Then, working in a community with young adults and youngsters with disabilities, she added to her skills. The young group had learned how to weave willow before she arrived and they taught her, she says.

Initially she worked with cane, but switched to willow as it’s easier to weave and is a living plant.

Renate added to her book learning with tricks and skills learned from other weavers.
Her mastery of the skills, she says, is down to practice.

Moving on from Camphill, Renate chose to stay in this area, where she has friends and where she feels the community is ‘very much alive’ with initiatives born of the Camphill communities, including KCAT and social farming.

Saturday’s project won’t be the first time Renate has turned her hand to a sculpture. She has woven living fences and willow arches for people with members of the Camphill communities.
At Westcourt, this weekend, the plan is to create a king of half-arch, high and wide enough to place over a bench, for people to sit under in the garden.

Get involved
The project will be great for all people to get involved, Renate says, including children who like to make little willow shapes that can be incorporated into the design. The idea is that everyone can get involved.

Renate considers herself lucky to be living among such kind people. In Thomastown she has a work space next to the old school, and grows her own willow, next to the community allotments.

The growing, cutting and seasoning of the willow is a skill in itself, one which Renate has also mastered. The willow stems need to dry for six weeks before they can be used to weave a basket - they are still flexible but the ‘first moisture’ has gone out of them.

In Ireland the native plant is a yellow willow. There are up to 300 varieties of willow! The most used is a black willow but this must be bought in from Somerset in the UK. It is thin and long compared to the Irish willow.

Traditional willow weaving is used for everything from lobster pots to shopping baskets.
Renate’s skills were even called upon to create the baskets used to hold ravens, chickens and eels on the set of ‘Vikings.’

Members of the community are invited to get involved with the project, as part of the Callan Open Doors/ Westcourt Living and Growing plant sale, on Saturday, from 12pm to 3pm.
The plant sale will be held in the Westcourt Walled Garden and you can also enjoy tea and homebakes with live music. Everyone is invited to come along and take part.