Building a Thicket in West Room
By I-Han Liang, Teacher
It began with some stakes and string in a patch of dirt. The children in West Room wandered by the patch in our play yard marked “reserved” by the stakes and string, curious to see what would be built there, an area we call the Back 40. Before long, they saw a circular wooden platform and a sign that read, “Please do not step here! It is very slippery!” Smiles of surprise and wonder appeared as children picked up these clues. What was to follow was like magic for the children, who had the rare opportunity to witness the creation of a work of art in their own back yard.
Kelly English, an artist and native of Minneapolis, Minn., builds what she calls “thickets” out of willow branches that grow in the marshes of her hometown. After harvesting the long branches, she keeps them moist and pliable in her large studio, where you can often find her busy at work. Armed with gardening gloves, safety goggles and knee pads, English begins the wondrous process of weaving the willow branches into a house-like structure. We were fortunate to have English at Bing this past autumn quarter to show us how she brings her artistic vision to life.
When English started her work in West Room, she brought along her branches and tools, the most important of which were her skillful hands. After securing the wooden floor of the thicket to the ground, English was ready to begin the weaving. She staked long branches into the ground to create the frame around which she would weave. At first, the children sat on boards set out for observation about 8 feet from her work space—but the space between the children and the creation closed considerably as the weaving carried on.
“What are those?” “What are you doing?” “Can we keep it when you’re done?” These were some of the first questions the children asked while English bent and wove the branches together. As they watched her work, they moved closer and asked more about the process. “How do you bend the stick?” “Where did you get all of these sticks?” “Why are you spraying the branches with water?” The children learned that the sticks need to be moist in order to bend and not break. They also learned that the branches came from Minnesota and that they were still green on the inside despite their dark brown color on the outside. The green indicated that the branches were still alive, allowing English to bend them into graceful curves and arcs.
As the weaving continued, the thicket’s structure grew more apparent. It was to have a door and a window, and children helped English determine their locations. With English’s help, some children even had the opportunity to weave branches into the thicket. Wearing safety goggles from our woodworking shed and gardening gloves from English’s tool box, they learned how to feel the bend of the branch as they searched for spaces into which it could be woven. If a branch broke upon bending, you could hear someone say, “Oh, that branch didn’t want to bend. It wanted to break.” Over the classroom fence, children could see pre-made thickets in Center Room and East Room waiting to be placed. The excitement of what was to come was mounting all around the school.
After two solid weeks of weaving, watching and wondering, West Room’s thicket was finally complete. A door faces the playhouses across the way and a window overlooks the garden boxes and redwood trees. Inside the thicket, an ethereal light filters through the towering willow branches that form the tip of the structure, creating a space that is at once cozy and expansive. It stands in our yard, inviting children to come play. We will treasure it for its many future possibilities and also for the memories it has given us.
