To attend, you must RSVP. Send an email with the subject “May Zoom" to ColumbiaBasinBasketryGuild@gmail.com. Please put your full name and email address in the body of the message. 

JoAnn Kelly Catsos is an award-winning black ash splint basketmaker and teacher from Western Massachusetts. JoAnn's designs are influenced by traditional Shaker and New England splint basketry, and woven on molds made with help from her woodworker husband, Steve. She has been teaching basketry full time for over 30 years. Her teaching venues include art and craft schools, fiber/basketry conferences, local guilds, and private groups across the country.

JoAnn's baskets have won numerous awards. Her baskets are in many private and public collections, including the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and are featured in a number of books and magazines, such as the 2007 publication of 500 Baskets. In 1999 JoAnn was honored to have an ornament on the official White House Christmas Tree. In February 2017, JoAnn's weaving and Steve's splint processing will be in an episode of Handcrafted America, on the INSP network.

JoAnn and Steve process splint from black ash trees harvested near their home in the southern Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts. Thirty years ago, her baskets were based on traditional Shaker and native New England utilitarian styles; while the clean lines have remained, her baskets have evolved into smaller, more finely woven, intricately patterned vessels. 

Miniature baskets are her passion. Weaving high quality miniatures with splint 1 /64 of an inch wide is definitely a challenge, but incredibly rewarding. JoAnn's goal is to maintain the highest quality of craftsmanship possible in her miniature and other black ash splint baskets.