Dunbar Gardens

Dunbar Gardens Handcrafted willow baskets by Katherine Lewis from farm grown willows in the Pacific Northwest.

Katherine Lewis is a willow basketmaker in the Skagit Valley of Washington State, USA. She has a small farm where she and her husband Steve Lospalluto grow much of the willow used in her baskets allowing her to choose the quality, color, and texture of her weaving materials. Katherine’s goal is to weave willow baskets that are functional and durable while reflecting the natural beauty of the willo

ws. Katherine’s baskets are in use in hundreds of homes across the country. In 2011, she was honored to have several of her baskets acquired by the Renwick Gallery at the Smithsonian American Art Museum as part of the Cole-Ware collection of American baskets. Please visit our website to find out more about Katherine’s willow baskets, willow cuttings, our small farm in the Pacific Northwest, and how to buy our products.

Katherine had a great class at BARN on Bainbridge Island this past weekend with 8 students making a potluck style basket...
09/01/2026

Katherine had a great class at BARN on Bainbridge Island this past weekend with 8 students making a potluck style basket. Most were learning new techniques like cutting scalloms and oval bases. Look closely and you can see some nice baskets (though not all were finished with trimming yet). All made with willows grown on our farm of course. Willow basketry in the Pacific Northwest is becoming quite popular.

Two new openwork oval arm baskets or fitched market baskets as we call them. One has a solid base and one has a fitched ...
08/22/2026

Two new openwork oval arm baskets or fitched market baskets as we call them. One has a solid base and one has a fitched base and both are made from the willow variety Whissender which has a beautiful color and great fragrance. Second photo pairs the fitched base basket with one made with peeled Whissender that Katherine made before her class at Willow Fest Northwest. .

One of Katherine’s large Irish skibs is part of the current virtual basket exhibit of National Basketry Organization mem...
08/10/2026

One of Katherine’s large Irish skibs is part of the current virtual basket exhibit of National Basketry Organization members work online. She titled it “Skagit Sunset” (we live in Skagit Valley). There are many interesting art works to look at in the photo gallery. Jurors gave out quite a few awards too. Unfortunately there wasn’t an award for best basket hanging on the side of an artist’s barn. The first photo is the one submitted and the second is the basket hanging in our house today. Nice thing about a virtual exhibit is not having to ship a large 32 inch diameter basket. All of those colors are of course willows that we grow and coppice here where we’re always inspired by nature and traditional basketry. Link to exhibit: nationalbasketry.org/exhibitions/every-1-2026/

Flashback to August 2015 when Katherine had an exhibit of her baskets at the Pacific Northwest Quilt and Fiber Arts Muse...
08/07/2026

Flashback to August 2015 when Katherine had an exhibit of her baskets at the Pacific Northwest Quilt and Fiber Arts Museum in nearby La Conner. She had a nice variety of her work available for it. Over the years she has had baskets in many different group exhibits at the museum. Although she doesn’t have a piece in the upcoming International Quilt & Fiber Arts Festival in September, she will be demonstrating her basketry there on Sunday the 27th in Maple Hall.

Katherine is on her way to teach for four days at Willow Fest Northwest. In the past week she made a couple of paniers à...
07/22/2026

Katherine is on her way to teach for four days at Willow Fest Northwest. In the past week she made a couple of paniers à jour for samples for that half of the class time. You can see the finished baskets in photo 2. Two different base styles that could be made. Although they are different in size, they are made on a base hoop the same size. The white basket was made from mostly peeled Whissender which won’t be an option in the class. We also loaded a third one into the car this morning that you can see in photo 3. That one was originally made for a “hands on” exhibit at the Renwick Gallery back in 2013. Last photo shows all of the willows getting loaded for the class. Lots of small rods for the rope coil weave baskets leaning up against the back. Quite a haul on a hot day here in the Pacific Northwest. Weaving begins tomorrow!

We did a little bark peeling recently. Katherine was getting a willow bark supply together for a couple of classes that ...
07/15/2026

We did a little bark peeling recently. Katherine was getting a willow bark supply together for a couple of classes that she will be teaching in October at North House Folk School in Minnesota. You can see we have a size range of willow rods to peel. Taking advantage of the sunshine to dry the bark rolls. Last two photos are class samples.

Katherine has been busy preparing for Willow Fest Northwest at the end of the month. Yesterday she was weaving a rope co...
07/07/2026

Katherine has been busy preparing for Willow Fest Northwest at the end of the month. Yesterday she was weaving a rope coil basket as a sample for her class. Lots of sorting of willows too. It should be a great event with five excellent teachers with four full days of class time. All the teachers grow their own willows so the classes will have a farm to basket atmosphere. Besides the rope coil weave, Katherine will also be teaching a fitched oval market basket.

Black-capped Chickadees and Swallows have used the nest boxes this year. I have seen the Chickadees using 4 boxes, Tree ...
06/27/2026

Black-capped Chickadees and Swallows have used the nest boxes this year. I have seen the Chickadees using 4 boxes, Tree Swallows in one and Violet-green Swallows in one after the Chickadees had fledged. I was worried for awhile that the Swallows would try to force the Chickadees out since they were so persistent in going to the box even after I moved and placed 2 more boxes in the same area.
First two photos show the Chickadees with insects for the nestlings. Third photo shows the nest with their eggs and the next two photos shows the nestlings later. Sixth photo is the Violet-green Swallow claiming the box the day the Chickadees fledged. The seventh photo shows the new Swallow nest built on top of the Chickadee nest. The Swallows are lucky that the Chickadees are such good house keepers.

Katherine will be teaching her willow “potluck basket” at Bainbridge Artisan Resource Network (BARN) on August 29-30. Ph...
06/25/2026

Katherine will be teaching her willow “potluck basket” at Bainbridge Artisan Resource Network (BARN) on August 29-30. Photos show a few examples of Katherine’s work. The class was recently posted so there are still spaces available. This class is a good one for people with previous experience weaving with willow. You can read the details on BARN’s website here: https://create.bainbridgebarn.org/event/willow-potluck-basket-181760/register.
By the way, if you were wondering how Katherine’s classes at the Northwest Basket Weavers Guild Retreat went, they were great. Photos? Katherine didn’t come home with any! Let’s hope she takes a few when she is teaching at Willow Fest Northwest in a month.

Happy Summer Solstice! Katherine giving a wave from the willows which are growing well. We hope your gardens are doing w...
06/22/2026

Happy Summer Solstice! Katherine giving a wave from the willows which are growing well. We hope your gardens are doing well as we move into warmer and drier days.

Address

16586 Dunbar Road
Mount Vernon, WA
98273

Opening Hours

Monday 10am - 4pm
Tuesday 10am - 4pm
Wednesday 10am - 4pm
Thursday 10am - 4pm
Friday 10am - 4pm
Saturday 10am - 4pm
Sunday 10am - 4pm

Telephone

+13604283076

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