As a basket maker, Shannon Lucas-Westrum has had works at shows and galleries throughout Minnesota. She is an arts instructor and avid maker, demonstrating basket making during studio tours and arts events for more than 10 years.
In 2017, she was awarded a Region 2 Arts Individual Artist Fellowship, that took her to Ireland to work with world renown basket maker Joe Hogan to study willow weaving, and for an Artist Residency at Shankill Castle in Kilkenny, IE. In 2021, she completed “All in a Day’s Work”, a virtual demonstrating exhibition with a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board (MNSAB). She has been awarded two more grants from MNSAB in 2023 and 2024, to bring the opportunity to learn basket making to rural communities throughout northern Minnesota and complete the exhibition Woods/Water:Entwined.
She works primarily in rattan combined with driftwood, antler, and local grasses, experimenting with texture, shape and flow.
My love of texture and fibers started when I convinced our elderly neighbor to teach me to crochet as a child. I spent hours with yarn, wood, beads, paper, and leather. Now my work is a blend of cultures, traditions, and technical skills. I’m asking questions about culture and tradition and how I represent them in my art. I am now exploring the fusion of modern and traditional techniques with locally sourced materials as they apply to art basketry.
Website: ShannonLucasWestrum.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ShannonLucasWestrum.Artist
Instagram: @shannonlucaswestrum