The Artisans Center of Virginia, the state’s official center for fine craft, located in Waynesboro, features a 4,000 square foot retail gallery of Virginia Made crafts, plus two exhibition venues. For the month of August, the featured exhibitor is Jo Anne Farrell, displaying “Traditions from the Past, an Exhibit of Nantucket and Traditional Baskets.” Jo Anne is from Mt Sidney, VA, and has been making baskets for 18 years.
Her Nantucket baskets are made with cherry wood bases, rims, and handles, wood spokes, and woven with cane, and her knobs to fasten the handles to the rim can be bone or ivory. Jo Anne’s traditional baskets are tinted with Rit dyes and woven with rattan, and her favorite traditional baskets are replicas of antique designs and twill woven baskets.
Admission to the Artisans Center of Virginia is free. It is located at 801 West Broad Street in Waynesboro, VA.