Sankofa's KICK- OFF Sweetgrass Basketweaving Workshop! (FRIDAY EVE)

62 Plains Rd.,New Paltz 12561

05 November, 2021

Description

Learn sweetgrass basket weaving with Gullah Geechee women from South Carolina who have kept this family tradition alive for generations! Learn the basics of sweetgrass basket weaving with three generations of Gullah Geechee women from South Carolina who have kept this family tradition alive, all the way from Senegal and Sierra Leone, Africa. WHEN: Friday, Nov 5th 6-9pm* includes organic soup, salad, wine and tea Saturday Nov. 6th 11am-2pm (SOLD OUT), Saturday Nov. 6th 3:30pm-6:30pm (SOLD OUT), Sunday Nov 7th 11am-2pm (SOLD OUT). Andrea Cayetano-Jefferson and daughter Chelsea Cayetano will lead these exciting hands-on workshops and offer a brief talk about the history and cultural impact of this beautiful craft. You will most certainly have a blast with this spirited mother and daughter duo, as well as settle into a meditative rhythm with this ancient and engaging skill! HOW: $80* for kick-off class (ONLY) includes organic soup, salad, bread, wine, and sweetgrass materials (Pay what you can or pay it forward. If you need tuition assistance, please email us: [email protected]) This workshop is presented by Circle Creative Collective as part of our second annual Sankofa: Honoring the past, empowering the present, dreaming the future. Andrea and Chelsea learned their skills from the family’s living matriarch and renowned basket weaver, Martha Cayetano-Howard, (Andrea’s Mother pictured left in the photo of the three) who is a fifth-generation basketweaver. She was taught to weave by her mother Rosa Barnwell Graddick, who was taught by her mother Martha Barnwell. Martha Cayetano grew up weaving sweetgrass baskets with her siblings and sold them along Highway 17N in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. In the early 1980s, Martha got a booth in the Charleston City Market where you can still find her weaving most days along with her daughter, Andrea Cayetano Jefferson. Sweetgrass basket weaving is one of the oldest African art forms in the United States. The baskets are made from plants harvested by their family—including sweetgrass, bulrush, and long needle pine—and are woven together with strips of palmetto. The family’s work is on display in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. Basket weaving is one of the oldest African art forms in the United States. The Gullah Geechee people are African Americans who have maintained a culture rich in African influences and have been creating baskets for generations in South Carolina and Georgia, and originally as far reaching as North Carolina and Florida. They make them using local plants wild harvested by hand—including sweetgrass, bulrush, and long needle pine—and woven together with strips of palmetto.