The Bloom Fringe Basket Festival, a first for Ireland, will take place at Dublin Castle on Saturday 4 June. Billed as Ireland’s first ever basket festival, it will include a series of public workshops, demonstrations and games. Drop-in workshops include one on making St Brigid crosses with Barry Noyce; trug or frame basket making with Brendan Farren; rushwork with Gerardine Wisdom; and flower-weaving with Alison Fitzgerald, who will also run a handle-making workshop for experienced basketmakers. The festival will see the construction of a large willow sculpture in the grounds of Dublin Castle by three international willow artists: Tim Johnson, Jan Johansen, and Jette Mellgren, made with the help of members of the public and the basket makers of Ireland. There will also be demonstrations of basket weaving by members of the Irish Basket Association; a willow sculpture trail; and a series of games for children and adults including Cisepheile (basket ball) Sciob the potato (basket bowling). The festival will mark the opening of an exhibition, ‘Baskets from Ireland‚’, curated by Róisín de Buitléar. Showing the work of Ireland’s leading basket makers, the exhibition will run at The Print Works, Dublin Castle, until 10 June.
