Stowe Basketry Festival

Teacher Bios

Our Teachers

Flo Hoppe

Flo Hoppe is a full-time studio artist, teacher, and author. She began her career in 1971 teaching herself basketmaking from a small 1924 booklet. Her published books are “Wicker Basketry”, “Contemporary Wicker Basketry”, and “Plaited Basketry with Birch Bark”. She has taught in England, Canada, Japan, Russia, and Australia.

Pam Wilson

Pamela Wilson finds great satisfaction in creating beautiful works, and in sharing her love of basket making with other weavers. She has taught for Central Pennsylvania Basket Weavers Guild, Deer Creek Basket Guild, Bedford Basket Guild, High Country Basket Guild, Tidewater Basketry Guild, Penn-Jersey Basket Weavers Guild, Northeast Basketmakers Guild, and Wildwood Basket Guild. She is a longtime member of the National Basketry.

Dianne Stanton

Dianne’s vast wealth of knowledge in all styles of basketry is evident, as is her repertoire of classes that range from bark to ash, twining to twill, sweetgrass coiling, and hand shaping. Inspiration for her artwork comes from nature, Native American basketry, and her family. She has taught at major basketry conferences throughout the country, as well asin Canada and Japan. Dianne has been making baskets since 1977.

Bonnie Gale

Bonnie Gale has been teaching traditional willow basketry for 41 years. She has taught hundreds of guilds, art schools, basket conventions, and to all ages across North America. She is the recipient of many awards, including a NYFA Artist Fellowship, as well as being featured in numerous television programs, books and articles. Since 2004, she has completed over 50 living willow structures. Recently, she started making willow caskets. Her web sites include www.bonniegale.com, www.livingwillow.info and www.americanwillowcaskets.com

Pam Philpott

A master educator of 35 years, Pam is retired and lives in the historical coastal village of Swansboro, North Carolina. Although she was exposed and learned the technique of coiling Pine Needle baskets over forty-five years ago, her baskets were gifts and mainly for family. Pam began passionately coiling after retirement in 2012 when neighbors and friends asked her to teach them. Pam teaches out of her home regularly but travels often to share her passion for pine needle basketry.

Jennifer Lee

Jennifer has been enjoying making bark baskets for 40 years. Her interest began with the study of her Native Ancestors. All materials are self-harvested, except the hemp cord for straps. She has received awards at the Mohegan Wigwam Festival, Saratoga Native American Festival, Kearsage Indian Museum and NCBA.

Linda Scherz

Linda started weaving baskets in the fall of 1987, shortly after moving to Northern NY. Her interest in weaving quickly expanded to designing, teaching, exhibitions, and juried shows. Linda enjoys working with a variety of materials, including reed, bark that she harvests, waxed linen, beads, and other materials. While much was self-taught, she has attended conferences to learn other techniques and to work with other materials. Known for her intricate patterns, eye for color, and incorporating different materials in her designs keeps it exciting for her. Through the years, she has won several awards for her baskets. Linda teaches her designs throughout the United States for various guilds, conferences, art centers, and organizations. She enjoys sharing her basketry knowledge and experience with her students, as it’s rewarding to see their progress and excitement with what they have learned and made. You can see more on her website. You can see more on her website, www.AdirondackBasketry.com.

Cheryl Thomas

Cheryl has been weaving since 1993 and started teaching basketry in 2021 at Fayetteville Technical Community College. She is a member of the NC Basketmakers and has served as Treasurer and Member-at-large. Cheryl is currently president of the Cape Fear Basketmakers, where she has also held other various board positions, and is also a member of Port City Basketmakers and Coastal Weavers Basketry Guild. She has taught at NCBA Convention, Guilder’s Weave (VA), SC Basketmakers Convention, and Central Pennsylvania’s Odyssey Convention and various weave-ins. You can find her on Facebook at Bend in the River Baskets.

Mary Price

Mary Price, known as “The Wanderlust Weaver” of Sunset Ridge Basketry, is a full-time travelling basket weaving instructor. Her dedicated teaching journey has taken her through 17 states, Germany, and the Caribbean via the Basket Weaving Cruise. She discovered her passion for basket weaving in 1996, thanks to her sister’s guidance in crafting a market basket. Within a year, she launched her business, showcased her baskets at numerous craft shows around the Chicago area, and began teaching in her Woodstock, IL, home studio. Mary’s enthusiasm lies in creating and teaching others to make practical, functional, and vibrant reed baskets.

Ruth Boland

Ruth Boland has been a basket maker since 1991 and a juried member of the League of NH Craftsmen since 2002. Her hand-shaped baskets involve strong colors, intricate patterns, and a contemporary feel. Ruth has shown her work at juried exhibits throughout New England, and her work was included in the book “500 Baskets”. Ruth teaches traditional and contemporary basketry from her studio in Nashua, NH, as well at various other venues throughout New England.

Peggy Thrasher

Peggy Thrasher loves to show people how beautiful mathematics can be with her Madweave baskets that are made from ribbon or copper. Trained in Computer Science, Peggy learned the Madweave technique from Shareen LaPlant’s book. She is a juried member of the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen and sells her baskets at Craft Fairs in the Northeast. She has taught Madweave at Northeast Basketmakers Guild conferences and for a local craft store.

Trisha Brown

Trisha Brown of East Freetown, Massachusetts is an avid basket maker, collector, and instructor. Growing up in the basket business, D.E.L.S. Nantucket, she wove her first basket at the age of 7 and was immediately hooked! Trisha started teaching in 2005 and devoted her professional career to the art of Nantucket basketry. When she is not on the road or teaching at the shop she enjoys spending time with her family. She is very active and always keeps busy. Trisha collects orchids, enjoys making Sailors Valentines and other shell crafts, and has recently become quite the crazy cat lady!

A Note About Tools!

Tools needed for each class are noted at the end of each class description. Please make your best effort to make sure that you have what is needed. Tools are available for sharing but it can often slow down class progress.

For those flying to Vermont, Stowe Basketry Festival water buckets will be available.