Casa dos Artesans – Ribeira Sacra
Holiday cottage in rural Galicia (sleeps 2 - 5). Experience spectacular scenery, rural life, wine, art and Spanish craft. Learn basketry or textile weaving on holiday or visit the nearby craft workshops. "Lovely furnishings, colours ... and comfy beds" (client comment). |
   These charming mini-catalan baskets are ideal presents for your young kids or grandchildren – so they can harvest fruit and veg from the garden or even help mum and dad with the shopping!
Mini baskets include versions similar to the traditional Catalan mushrooming basket, the double “potato peeling” (pelapatas) basket. But Lluis will also be displaying a full-size bres basket, beloved of collectors but also still made to commission as a traditional basketry cradle. And unlike other models of cradle, the bres can also be used for storing toys and other things later on.
You can visit Lluis Grau at his stand at the Fira del Cistell en Salt, Gerona, on Saturday 6 y Sunday 7 October 2012. Girona, the city which has grown to absorb the town of Salt, has great transport links with its international airport and a visit to the fair can make the central point of a fun weekend break away, with typical catalan music, dancing, a display of the scary “human towers” or “castells” and other attractions. But be warned – there is always a tempting array of baskets on exhbition so bring a large bag with you!
Lluis´ new basketry book – Lluis also hopes to be able to have copies of his new book available for sale at the fair. The book, co-authored by Anna Champeney and published by the Basketmakers´ Association with financial assistance from the Worshipful Company of Basketmakers, is about the very attractive wooden basketry tradition of Los Ancares in Galicia, north Spain. Another treat for basket lovers, this book includes a practical section on how to make these wonderfully elegant split wood baskets.
- Where: The old quarter of Salt, Girona
- When: Primer fin de semana de octubre – 6 y 7 de octubre 2012.
- Products: Baskets from Spain and internationally
- Featured basketmaker: Lluis Grau
- Web: www.lluisgrau.com
- Contact: T.669 600 620.
Next basketry course with Lluis Grau at his workshop in rural northwest Spain (nearest train station: Monforte de Lemos)
3 & 4 November – Beginners´ basketry in willow
More information – contact Lluis via email
 Anna Champeney (r) with weave pupil Ana Roman (l) being filmed by Televisión Gallega for the regional magazine programme "Great Places"
Yesterday and today the habitual tranquility and silence of the picturesque Galician hamlet of Cristosende was broken as the village was taken over by the film crew of TVG for the making of Grandes Lugares (Great Places), a regional magazine programme. Yesterday a good number of us villagers turned up at the old school, to share a glass of local wine, some empanada (traditional pie), and bread with a selection of cheeses and village-made chorizo and salchichón sausage, and explain to the film crew exactly what makes the village so special for us.
Is it the fact that the village has a stunning view over some of the most dramatic scenery in the Ribeira Sacra area of north Spain? Or that, in a village of only about 30 inhabitants, there are no fewer than 3 local businesses – the craft workshops with Casa dos Artesans holiday cottage, the Casa Grande rural hotel and bar, and Pepe´s bodega, Viña Perderneira. Or is it simply the fact that the village has a pretty good atmosphere, with neighbours always willing to help each other out?
This morning the film crew came to Anna Champeney Estudio Textil and Lluis Grau´s basketry workshop to conduct interviews, both with the local craftspeople themselves and Ana Roman, a weave student who explained how satisfying it was to weave her own soft alpaca scarf on a loom – and how relaxing it is too (except, of course, when 5 members of a film crew are filming you!).
Well, we´re not going to tell you anything else for now, but will post up the video link when we know the date of emission, and invite you to watch – and meet all our neighbours here in Cristosende.
Padded doubleweave textiles – Doubleweave tuition option now available – Weaving holidays for intermediate level weavers in Spain
 Photo of padded double weave fabric (Anna Champeney Estudio Textil Spain))
 Weaving "quilted" fabrics with 2 shuttles on a Louet table loom
Giving an interview whilst weaving doubleweave with two shuttles is no easy task – it´s like trying to whistle and hum at the same time (and I only know one person who can do that!), so the TV crew had to wait and watch a little until the moment came to stop weaving and insert the stuffing into the “pockets” and “tubes” created by the double weave! Weaving textiles on the loom in two layers opens the door to lots of magical and seemingly impossible options – from weaving a textile which is actually wider than the loom you are using to weaving a tube, to weaving two layers of fabric which intersect to create pockets – which can be filled with filling which gives you an effect rather like a quilted textile. Applications? Double weave is great for scarves and (using very fine yarns) for clothing fabrics which are really warm and insulating but which can still drape nicely, without feeling not lumpy or thick. But the thick quilted-effect double weave fabrics can also be used for thick padded jackets, cushion pads, bedcovers and upholstery fabrics. The only limit is your imagination.
Anna Champeney and Lluis Grau offer one-to-one tuition in their craft workshops and looms for hire to guests staying at their holiday cottage, Casa dos Artesans. Their availability as tutors in 2012 is already limited so you are advised to reserve the cottage and any tuition well in advance. Contact.
Here´s a list of exhibitions, open workshops and markets where you can find authentic Spanish fibre crafts made by local textile and basket making artesans, Anna Champeney and Lluis Grau, who open their summer craft shop to the public in the Ribeira Sacra, Galicia, north Spain, this August. Their work this summer includes delicate one-off hand-woven linen scarves, hand-dyed wool in skeins for knitting and weaving, unusual regional baskets, and craft kits…..
 SIN DISCIPLINA, group art exhibition Castro Caldelas Castle, Ribeira Sacra (Ourense, Galicia) 23 July – 31 August 2011 See and buy the latest hand-woven felpa wall-pieces / cushions (Galician loop pile fabric) by Galician-based textile designer and weaver Anna Champeney´s in this exhibition of 15 local people working in a range of different media which includes lyrical sculpture, photography, installation art and Galician poetry by Mercedes Madroño. The exhibition is held on the first floor of the castle and in the clock tower.
WOVEN GALICIAN FELPA TEXTILES, selling exhibition of unique woven textile wall-pieces by Anna Champeney Casa Grande de Cristosende, A Teixeira, Galicia, north Spain. 1 August – 15 September 2011. Experimental felpa wall hangings by Anna Champeney in the setting of the manor house hotel of Cristosende in Galicia (Spain). The aim of the works on display is to imbue the ancient traditional textile technique of Galician felpa weaving with new life, combining traditional and contemporary styles with a sensitive use of colour, enhanced by the use of natural dyes, extracted by hand.
 new collapse weave scarves in linen by Anna Champeney AUGUST 2011 – SALE OF WOVEN TEXTILES AND BASKETS DIRECT FROM THE CRAFT WORKSHOPS IN CRISTOSENDE August is the time of year when Anna Champeney Estudio Textil opens to the public, so make the most of the chance to visit – without needing to make an appointment! See and buy the beautiful and exclusive linen scarves and a new range of gorgeous natural-dyed woolen yarns, ideal for autumn craft projects. If you are interested in learning to weave or make baskets this is also the ideal opportunity to meet the makers and talk about the autumn programme of courses, look at the range of Louet table looms and other weaving equipment for sale. Spanish basketmaker Lluis (Grau) is also on hand, and is available to talk about his own northern Spanish basketry work ,his forthcoming book on split wood basketry and autumn courses.
Please note our August 2011 opening hours – 2 – 31 August 2011 Tuesday – Sunday 11 – 1.30pm / 5.30 – 8pm (closed Mondays and 19 August)
The rest of the year we open by appointment only (T.669 600 620)
 Galician rag rug (traditional, maker unknown) Finally we have finalised our autumn course programme. Our group courses are given in Spanish but English language support can be given. We can also organise made-to-measure courses for your English-speaking group by arrangement, in English. One-to-one tuition in weaving, natural dyeing (including orchil dyeing) and basketmaking with Anna and Lluis are also popular options, but bear in mind that both makers are almost fully committed for the rest of 2011 so think about spring dates in 2012! Have a look at the blog section on cottage holidays to see more information about Casa dos Artesans holiday cottage accommodation available for course pupils.
The range of courses on offer this autumn include an introduction to the art of natural dyeing, a 5-day intensive linen weaving course on 4 & 8 shaft Louet table looms (suitable for beginners upwards), the fun art of recycled weaving (the art of turning your old clothes into fun new fabrics on the loom!), alpaca and wool scarf weaving for winter (beginners and intermediate level options) and a theory course for beginner weavers who want to know how to plan a new weaving project. The following basket courses will also be taught: mushroom picking basket, spinners´ basket, rectangular basketry, lidded basketry.
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Holiday Craft Tuition in North Spain Learn the creative art of hand-weaving, natural dyeing and basketry in Galicia!
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Beautiful surroundings, high quality tuition and a wide variety of course options.
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