Alberta Basketry Guild

04/08/2026

Join Studio TK as clay and coiling meet in this hands-on workshop, part of Baskets in the Garden 2026.

Join me Sunday, September 13th during Baskets in the Garden to create your own Earth and Fibre Vessel.

We will begin with the pinch pot you created in August with Brittany, using it as the foundation for your vessel. From there I will guide you through the slow, meditative practice of coiling pine needles, building form and texture stitch by stitch.

Participants will learn four distinct basketry stitches, along with how to responsibly harvest, prepare and store pine needles.

This experience invites you to connect material, hand and intention.

If you are unable to join us in making your own pinch pot (August 29th) I will have a selection of pots from Brittany you can purchase to work off of.

For more information about the workshop or Baskets in the Garden, please visit https://www.basketsinthegarden.com/

03/17/2026

03/10/2026

Weaving Connections 2026 has come and gone, and we are feeling grateful.

A gathering like this is made of many hands.

Hands teaching, hands helping, and hands willing to learn.

Thank you to all the hands that helped bring this year’s Weaving Connections together.

Thank you to Aspen Ridge Greenhouses, and Good Note Community Farm for welcoming us back and sharing their space with us.

Thank you to the Weaving Connections 2026 Committee, whose work behind the scenes made the weekend possible:

Cathie Harper
Tania Kristensen
Elizabeth Attwood
Marie Pariseau
Freyja Ulveland

Thank you to our instructors, who shared their knowledge so generously:

Candice Cullum, Full Baskets
Cathie Harper
Elizabeth (Betty) Attwood
Freyja Ulveland, Half Moon Baskets
Kate Mullin
Kayla Yearwood
Kelsey Shapka
Lauren Rosinski, Wyrd Willow
Marie Pariseau
Mia Coco
Sarah Graham
Tania Kristensen, Studio TK
Tiffany Watson, Twist and Weave Studios

Thank you to Kate Mullin for documenting the weekend and sharing her photography.

Thank you to everyone who helped harvest and prepare materials for the open weave.

Thank you to Henrietta of Iron Sunset Forge for making us the lovely awls and wrapping irons.

Thank you to the many volunteers who stepped in throughout the weekend to move tables, help in the kitchen, wash dishes, and keep things running smoothly.

Thank you to everyone who contributed to and supported the Silent Auction.

Thank you to our caterer, Custom Creations by Kate, for keeping everyone well fed.

Thank you to our special guests:
Crys Harse
Ken Wright
Mandy Leigh

And thank you to Elvira Kotuk of Under the Linden Bakehouse for the Saturday night treats.

We’ve started a Google Drive to gather photos from the weekend. If you have pictures you would like to share, please email [email protected] and we will add them.

Google Drive:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1kXpVf9yK6mSVTBWacP5g3GDvElrIHpO6?usp=share_link

And finally, thank you to everyone who came with hands willing to learn.

We look forward to weaving with you again next year.

03/10/2026

03/10/2026

Pine Needles with Studio TK during Weaving Connections 2026!

03/04/2026

More memories as we find our anniversary on the horizon.

Two years ago, on the Sunday evening after Weaving Connections, we gathered at Good Note Community Farm for pizza and mead and signed the paperwork that would begin the Alberta Basketry Guild.

Recognize any familiar faces around that table?

Since then we have woven together workshops, open weaves, friendships, and a growing community of people curious about working with their hands and the materials around them.

This Friday is our AGM. The Guild is looking for new board members to step into specific roles as well as general directorship. If you have experience with community building, non-profit organizations, bookkeeping or financial work, or simply enthusiasm and a pioneering spirit, please consider yourself warmly invited to come as you are.

We can be the change, together.

If you’re curious, send us a DM or email us at [email protected].

03/03/2026

Maryann brought so much joy to our community.

She was always looking for ways to bring us together through our annual gathering, Weaving Connections, in the online Facebook group Alberta Natural Baskets, by inviting us out to Good Note Community Farm setting up booths at Edmonton Seedy Sunday, the International Children's Festival of the Arts, and Deep Freeze: A Byzantine Winter Festival, and bringing cattails to Edmonton Folk Music Festival so people could craft together as they took in the music.

During COVID, she even delivered willow to people’s doorsteps so they could join her in learning to weave online.

She believed that weaving belonged in everyday life. That it should be accessible. Shared. Passed hand to hand.

This year at Weaving Connections 2026, Cathie Harper will be honouring Maryann by teaching Maryann’s Laundry Basket, a sturdy, generous working basket. The kind meant to be used. The kind meant to carry what needs carrying.

It feels fitting.

We continue the work by weaving it forward.

- Alberta Basketry Guild

03/02/2026

Today is Maryann’s birthday.

Two summers ago, we lost her. And yet, in so many ways, she is still here.

She is at the heart of every basket we weave.
Every song sung.
Every fiddle played.
She is in the bundles of willow shared from the back of a car.
She is in our community gatherings where everyone is welcome.
She is in cattails passed hand to hand at a festival.
She is in the quiet encouragement that helps someone weave their first basket — and their second.

Maryann believed basketry was meant to be shared.
She believed community mattered.
She believed we could learn from one another.

On her birthday, we remember her with gratitude.

If you have a photo, a story, or a basket that carries her influence, we invite you to share it below. 💛

We are still weaving together because she helped show us how.

Happy Birthday, Maryann.

— Alberta Basketry Guild