JOE HOGAN
BASKETMAKER
Joe Hogan has been making baskets at Loch na Fooey, Co. Galway since 1978. He was initially attracted to basketmaking because it offered the possibility of living rurally and also of being involved in the whole process from growing the willow through to making the finished object. Since then he has become internationally recognised as one of the most celebrated basketmakers working today.
An interest in the indigenous baskets of Ireland led him to write Basketmaking in Ireland (Wordwell, 2001) now regarded as one of the most definitive accounts of the history of Irish basketmaking published. Recently he has devoted much of his time to making non-functional baskets. Some of these baskets involve the use of twigs from Birch, bog myrtle and other wild found material. Many involve the use of finds of bogwood from a wonderful area of wild, isolated bog near where he lives. Several of his most recent works originate from wood fragments, which bear the marks of scars and openings from the lifetime of the tree providing a profoundly beautiful starting point for the story that he weaves.
In 2008, he co-curated European Baskets with Mary Butcher, a touring exhibition of traditional and contemporary European practice. Recent exhibitions include Collect 2010, Saatchi Galleries, London, UK and Material Poetry, New York, USA, 2010 and solo exhibition in The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland, 2011.
Loch na Fooey
Finny
Clonbur
Co. Galway
+353 (0) 94 954 8241 joehogan3@eircom.net www.joehoganbaskets.com
Image 2: Embrace. Bog Pine, Willow rods. 54cm x 66cm x 54cm (H x W x D). cm