The past few weeks we’ve been up at the newly renamed Cornwall Museum and Art Gallery installing the Withy Lore exhibition with the talented artist Anna Pope. This is an exciting opportunity for us to showcase the artwork, films and audio stories we’ve been producing this past year. As days pass, our visions of net lofts, listening stations and withy pot galleries have come to fruition, and we now have one final push to get it ready for opening on the 1st March 2025.
Pots from far and wide
Last week we welcomed makers from around the South-West as they brought their freshly woven pots into the museum. These beautiful pots, of varying styles, now fill the space with colour, scent and pattern. Other pots, tools and willow has filled our cars as we’ve driven up the A30, getting us some interesting looks from fellow drivers as we peer through withy pots. Pots are also travelling by post from the Isles of Scilly.
Withy Lore exhibition
Withy Lore explores the critically endangered craft of withy pot making, celebrating the community of makers past and present and preserving its heritage for the future.
A withy pot is a centuries old means of catching crab and lobster, largely made from willow. Today, only a handful of withy pot makers remain. Their stories, skills, knowledge and craft form the heart of this exhibition.
Withy pots were once a common sight around the South-West coast. Traditionally woven by fishermen each winter, knowledge and skills have been passed down the generations for centuries. Cast into the sea from spring in the hope of luring a precious catch, withy pots typically only lasted one season before breaking down to leave no trace. Sadly this cycle, so in tune with nature’s seasonal rhythms, became broken with the introduction of modern plastic and metal pots during the late 20th century.
Working with a community of withy pot makers, our hope to preserve and share this craft for future generations through art, film, oral histories and photography.
You can find out more about the exhibition, which runs from 1st March- 30th June 2025 here.
This project has been made possible with thanks to funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, FEAST Cornwall, Cornwall Community Foundation, the St.Aubyn Foundation and the Fishmongers’ Company’s Fisheries Charitable Trust.
