The crafty bunch

HUDDLED by an ancient, uncooperative fire in a freezing workshop on an icy January morning, it's not immediately apparent why Rosemary Hawksford chose willow weaving over a more conventional career.

"I love it here and I love what I do," she said, her warm breath filling the air with dragon-like puffs. "I would work from eight in the morning to eight at night if I could."

Rosemary is one of five York women who make up DreamGround, an informal collective which has just received a £7,000 grant from the Scarman Trust to teach traditional skills to other women in the area.

She specialises in willow basket making; Belinda Noda teaches felt making; Chrissie Thomas, spinning and weaving; the mono-named Elder, personal growth and body work; and Fiona Dudley, perma culture (a system of gardening that promotes a sustainable way of life for both the gardener and the land).

The collective - all mums of children at the Steiner School in Fulford - first came together on a project to erect a yurt, the Mongolian equivalent of a North American wigwam, on St Nicholas Fields.

"We wanted to develop some sort of project to celebrate the seasonal festivals," said Rosemary. "Our crafts are our day-to-day work, and they are the backbone of the project."

As part of the women's ongoing celebrations, they planted willows yesterday at the back of St Mary's Church in Bishophill, where Rosemary has her workshop, to mark Candlemass, the time when Candlemass bells - the colloquial name for snowdrops - traditionally appear.

"We really became a group when we applied for the grant," Rosemary continued. "There's a real knack to getting money, but Belinda had secured a grant for the yurt so she knew what she was doing. We see each other every day when we take the kids to school, but the grant has made us feel like a group away from school too."

She is no stranger to women's collectives. After completing an MA in religious studies, she left university and joined a collective to learn how to work with willow.

"I was always very academic," she said. "Everything was going on in my head. I suppose I wanted something hands-on to balance that out.

"I don't think of myself as a crafty person. To be honest, I started working with my hands to learn how to be patient because I used to have a tendency to fly off the handle a bit.

"A chair like this she points to a beautiful but dilapidated old dining chair takes about eight hours to repair, so I think it's fair to say I've learned a lot about patience in the past 15 years."

But why would someone who could have had a successful academic career spend her days repairing chairs and making baskets?

"Sometimes I look at what I do and I think it's too simple. Maybe I should be doing something more ambitious," she said. "But I like the way the repetitiveness makes it so meditative. It gives me a lot of mental spaciousness."

She is not alone in appreciating the simpler things in life. Many of the courses offered by the collective are full and have lengthy waiting lists. An indication, perhaps, that people, and more particularly women, appear to be turning back to traditional crafts in a bid to balance out their otherwise technology-driven lives.

"Crafts are an antidote to modern life," said Rosemary. "We went through a long phase when working with your hands was dismissed as insignificant. It was given a very low status.

"Crafts are more valued now. People seem to be fascinated by them. Even really high-powered business people want to learn to work with their hands to clear their over-worked minds."

There has also been a noticeable attitude change when it comes to buying and, more importantly, paying for hand-crafted items.

"People are thinking less about the economic factors and more about the aesthetics and ecology," said Rosemary. "I don't advertise; well, nothing more than a line in the Yellow Pages. I couldn't really handle any more work than I'm doing now."

She is self-employed and works in school hours - something the collective has taken onboard when arranging courses. Most take place between 9.30am and 2.30pm, giving mums time for dropping off and picking up their children.

"Our courses are aimed at mothers, but not exclusively so," said Rosemary. "Anyone can come along and have a go. You don't have to have children to qualify for a place."

Crafts are so appealing because you make something. It might not be a beautiful something at first, but it will be something all the same.

And in May, all the "somethings" made by students on the DreamGround courses will go on display at the Steiner School spring fair.

"We're hoping to put up a yurt to house the exhibition," said Rosemary. "It will be amazing for people to see their work on display, especially as for many of them it will be the first time they have ever made anything."

The £7,000 grant has to be spent by the end of March, but Rosemary hopes this will not mark the end of the collective.

"It still feels very new - there's lots of energy about it," she said. "The money has given us the freedom and confidence to begin. It has bought us the time and space we need. What we do with that now is up to us."

For further information about DreamGround courses, phone Rosemary Hawksford on 01904 651407 or Chrissie Thomas on 01904 638210.

Updated: 08:37 Tuesday, February 03, 2004