![]() ![]() Justin and Shannon had the idea to create large outdoor willow sculptures using invasive species, such as privet and Bradford pear, for the base structure. Roberts learned willows could be used to remediate soils with heavy metal pollution, stabilize eroding stream banks, maybe even serve as a renewable bio energy source. The same plant can be harvested for decades. Willows are a sustainable building material. It made him more aware of the many invasive species he saw while he gathered willows in environments across the country as he traveled for his trade. "I spent a lot of time removing invasive plants from their land," he says. Seasonal demand had Roberts picking up off-season odd jobs, often for Murray State professors. It is a trade that requires a lot of faith," he says. I would head home with $5,000 in my pocket and supplies for my next builds. ![]() "I would park, find some local willow to harvest and sell the chairs I had at the show I was at. He recalls arriving at markets far from home with only a few dollars to his name and some chairs to sell. "It was feast or famine during the four years we lived with George and worked to establish our trade," Roberts says. Roberts found willow weaving was, and is still, a traveling trade. He was happy to have Roberts as an apprentice, dubbing him a natural with big ideas. By then, the master craftsman had a piece in the Smithsonian and a willow ornament hanging on a White House Christmas tree. Fifty years later, he would happily share his hard-learned lessons with Roberts. Beard threw his first attempt at a chair on the fire before rescuing it and rebuilding it. He watched a man in Illinois build an armchair and thought he could do it, too. Soon Roberts was Beard's apprentice and his family moved in with the 80-year-old craftsman.īeard picked up willow weaving while working as a migrant fruit harvester in the 1960s. Our first conversation lasted four hours," Roberts says. "I looked him up and knocked on his door. After a few years of self-taught weaving, Roberts stumbled upon master willow furniture builder, George Beard, in his own hometown. "We were tired of throw-away culture," Roberts says. When the holiday concluded they replanted the basket in the woods instead of just tossing it in the trash like its plastic peers. The Murray, Kentucky, native's first project was an Easter basket for his son. ![]() One Easter, Roberts started bending them into shapes and hasn't stopped since. ![]() There may not have been enough mushrooms in the woods to support their family, but there were plenty of willows. According to author Michael Pollan, those needs are sweetness, beauty, pleasure, and sustenance. The tome explores how humans relate to the plant world and how certain plants (apples, tulips, marijuana, and potatoes) have evolved to be essential for basic human needs. I'm just the guy that bends sticks," he says.Īn aspiring chef at the time of his plant-based epiphany, Roberts had recently watched a documentary based on the best-selling book The Botany of Desire. She even writes the grants for our larger designs. She takes the lead on design for our woven willow art installations and crafts the concepts and meanings behind the pieces. She's since become her willow-weaving husband's biggest supporter and collaborator. "'There aren't enough mushrooms in the woods to support our family,' was my wife, Shannon's, reaction when I got the idea there had to be something I could forage from nature and turn into products people would desire," says willow artist Justin Roberts. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |