Folk art takes root among rural Iowa willow weavers

Brianne Sanchez and Robert Modersohn
·3 min read
The willow-woven canoe that Lindsay Lee is creating draws inspiration from both basketry methods and ancient boat-building techniques that still yield beauty through simplicity. “You start with this pile of sticks and it becomes a vessel that's out there on the water,” Lee says.
The willow-woven canoe that Lindsay Lee is creating draws inspiration from both basketry methods and ancient boat-building techniques that still yield beauty through simplicity. “You start with this pile of sticks and it becomes a vessel that's out there on the water,” Lee says.

Ask Lee Zieke how long it takes to complete one of her handwoven willow baskets, and she’s likely to reply with a riddle:

“When do I get to say I started?” she says with a grin. “Was it when I planted those willows? When I harvested? Was it when I graded them to size? Let them dry? Re-soaked them?”

For visitors to Willowglen, the answer is clear. This verdant acreage outside of Decorah, Iowa, offers ample evidence that the pieces grown and crafted here come from a lifetime of skill-building and tending the land. Willow patches and prairie flowers sway in the breeze just steps from a barn-like workshop that is filled with handicrafts, tools, and produce recently harvested from the garden. Zieke and her husband, Lindsay Lee, have lived and worked here for more than four decades, in a partnership as interwoven as any basketry they create.

Cultivating meaningful materials

Folk artists Lindsay Lee (left) and Lee Zieke stand amid willow plants on their property outside of Decorah, in northeast Iowa. They cultivate willow to use in handcrafting baskets and other artful pieces, even small boats.
Folk artists Lindsay Lee (left) and Lee Zieke stand amid willow plants on their property outside of Decorah, in northeast Iowa. They cultivate willow to use in handcrafting baskets and other artful pieces, even small boats.

The couple, who met as high schoolers in Cedar Rapids, named the place Willowglen long before Zieke had what she calls her “awakening” to the plant. They bought the property in the early 1980s, turning a former cornfield into a destination flower nursery. As naturalists, landscapers, and artisans, they could make their living in a way that complemented their lifestyle. Driftless-area gardeners turned to Zieke and Lee for growing advice and inspiration along with the allium, verbascum, and other perennials they offered for sale.

The couple began to cultivate various species of willow to use and sell to other weavers after Zieke attended a basket-making workshop in the Amana Colonies under the acclaimed folk artist Joanna Schanz.

“When I first started weaving, I would go hunt wild willow for material,” Zieke says. She was instantly enamored with the art form. “If you’re a serious basket maker, you’re gonna go find a way to grow willow. It’s the only way to get it in any quantity.”

Inspired by European willow farms, they use traditional coppicing methods. Cutting branches near the base encourages shoots as tall as six feet to regenerate each year. This makes willow one of the original dimensional building materials and an attractive renewable choice for today’s sustainability-minded crafters.

Prairie patches surrounding the workshop at Willowglen Nursery attract pollinators. Zieke spent years working as a naturalist and as the conservation-minded couple winds down their commercial work, they have more space for native species. Originally named for the Black willow trees growing on the property, Willowglen Nursery has lived up to its name. Three acres of cultivated willow grew here at the height of production.

“Coppice is fascinating to me because it predates the saw,” Lee says. “Prior to the Iron Age, you could take a sharp stone and hack off the plant and six stems would come up the following year.”

Although they’re winding down their commercial operation, Zieke and Lee’s commitment to craftsmanship and bond with the willow-working community keeps them growing.

Carrying cultural traditions

Lindsay Lee explains his experimental process for incorporating homegrown willow into the gunnel of a canoe he’s building.
Lindsay Lee explains his experimental process for incorporating homegrown willow into the gunnel of a canoe he’s building.

After closing the nursery in 2010, Zieke and Lee were able to dedicate more time to taking and teaching classes at folk schools across the Midwest. They team up to teach at places like the nearby Vesterheim Folk Art School, and the North House Folk School in Grand Marais, Minnesota. North House Folk School program director Jessa Frost says the full spectrum understanding Lee and Lindsay have of their materials creates a unique opportunity.

“The closer you can get to those resources you need to make the craft, the more holistic and, I think, meaningful and authentic the experience,” Frost says. “[Lee and Lindsay] are able to infuse that knowledge into their basketry classes in a way that is really special for students. Not to mention the fact that Lee has such extensive knowledge of European willow basketry styles, and she has worked with the best willow basket makers in the world.”

Lee Zieke begins work on a basket base using a simple twining method. “The thing that really got me about Willow is the texture and the patterns,” she says. The simple tools they use for cutting and weaving Willow are similar to those used by European basketmakers for generations. The handcrafted workbench is based on models Zieke saw in the Amanas.

Beyond sharing the step-by-step handiwork methods, the couple says they are motivated to pass along knowledge that was essential in the daily lives of our ancestors. Lee likes to weave ancient fishing vessels called coracles and is experimenting with a canoe design featuring lashed willow branches, whereas Zieke is most often working on handled and wearable pieces that could be used to haul in a harvest or hold special household items.

An assortment of dried and graded willow stands in bundles, tagged by species. Zieke and Lee incorporate home-grown materials into their own work and sell weavers to other artisans across the country. Recently, they supplied Willow for a Traditional Ways gathering on the shores of Lake Superior.
An assortment of dried and graded willow stands in bundles, tagged by species. Zieke and Lee incorporate home-grown materials into their own work and sell weavers to other artisans across the country. Recently, they supplied Willow for a Traditional Ways gathering on the shores of Lake Superior.

“We tell people that, even if they never make another basket, they will never look at a basket the same way,” Zieke says. “I want them to make something that’s significant.”

Brianne Sanchez is a freelance writer based in Des Moines, Iowa. She’s covered creative people for local culture glossies DSM and “ia” and several Dotdash Meredith publications. She received her journalism degree at the University of Missouri-Columbia and loves telling stories about Midwesterners on a mission to cultivate vibrant communities.

Bob Modersohn is a freelance photographer based in Lansing, Iowa. He was a longtime staff shooter/reporter for The Des Moines Register. He has been recognized for his work by the National Press Photographers Association, World Hunger Media Award, and been a finalist for Pulitzer Prize in feature photography. He has published work with numerous national publications, and presently shoots life and landscapes in the driftless area of the Upper Mississippi River Valley.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Folk art takes root among rural Iowa willow weavers