Blaise is a basket maker from the French Alps/Provincal area of France. He has been a part of the IFAM artists for over ten years.

In this two day workshop, Blaise Cayol will demonstrate and teach how to make a willow basket on the base of a round item. I teach in a way that combines French academic basketry, peasant basketry from the French Alps and traditional Provencal basketry from where I live.

About Blaise Cayol: Blaise Cayol began weaving baskets in the late 1990s. It's the basis of his craft, and remains a major activity in all his applications. Choosing to make baskets, then gardens, primitive-inspired architecture and other poetic works, means wanting to work with raw natural materials, without mechanical or chemical intervention and with a minimum of tools. It also means pursuing an artifact in the context of contemporary expression, where the purpose of the gesture on raw materials is to provoke emotions.

Generally speaking, since 1997, it's the mountains that inspire Celui qui Tresse, particularly those of the Ubaye Valley, as well as the sacred mountain in southern Utah that protects Navajo territory. It's the shepherds, the trees, the rivers, the horizons and the people who braid wherever he goes that gave him the desire to devote himself to this activity. But above all, it's a way of life and a posture on the road to humility and gratitude towards the living world.

Blaise Cayol has participated in the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market since 2013, and runs workshops in New Mexico, Colorado and California, as well as other exhibitions in the United States.

Please visit Blaise’s Website at: www.celuiquitresse.com