Gretchen Ferrell with her handcrafted basket display at the Brown County Historical Museum. Her unique, durable baskets, made from reed, are designed to be multi-functional and inspire future crafters (Photo by Jeff Ferrell)

NEW ULM — For Gretchen Ferrell, a basket is rarely just a basket.

It may be sized to fit a corner, built sturdy enough to carry a casserole, or shaped into a delicate “Easter Bunny” with hand�’formed ears.

A lifetime of this craftsmanship is now on display at the Brown County Historical Society Museum, an exhibit initiated by Ferrell’s daughter�’in�’law and museum volunteer, Julie Ferrell.

The exhibit aligns with the spring season but serves primarily as a detailed look at the technical art of basket weaving, a craft Ferrell has refined since 1997.

Ferrell, a native Minnesotan born in Springfield and raised in Morgan and Franklin, recently returned to the state after nearly four decades in the Southwest. 

She lived 10 years in Santa Fe and 29 years in Alamogordo, N.M., where she immersed herself in the region’s artist community.

“A friend of mine was making baskets, and we talked her into giving us a couple of classes,” Ferrell said. “I really, really liked it, so I started making some with her, and then I kind of went off on my own.”

Ferrell attended basket retreats in Texas, learning from master weavers who taught advanced shaping, color work and structural techniques. 

She continues to weave primarily with reed, which she orders from North Carolina due to limited local supply.

“The reed has to be wet when you work with it; otherwise, it’ll break,” she said. “Everything has got to be wet when you weave. You have your stakes going one way and the others going the opposite way, and then you just weave in and out.”

When Ferrell began weaving in 1997, reed cost $4.95 per pound. Today, she said, the price is closer to $22 per pound, driven by supply chains and overseas shipping.

Her baskets range from functional household pieces to intricate, small�’scale works. One of the smallest baskets in the exhibit, made from coastal weeds collected and dried by an instructor in North Carolina, took nearly two days to complete due to its delicacy.

Ferrell often adapts designs to fit specific spaces or needs.

“I’ve made a few baskets where I needed a basket to fit in a certain area or a waste basket that had to be so high and so deep and so wide, and then I make it up,” she said.

She once replicated a rolling basket with a wooden lid she saw in a Martha Stewart magazine.

“I made the basket and then I took it up to my brother�’in�’law, and he made a lid for it and put the wheels on it,” she said.

To engage younger visitors, the museum is pairing the exhibit with a coloring contest. Julie Ferrell said two grand prize baskets, one for a boy and one for a girl, have been prepared and filled with treats and small treasures. 

Children may pick up and return completed coloring pages at the Brown County Historical Society Museum. Winners will be selected Friday, April 3, and notified immediately following the drawing.

The baskets will remain on display through Wednesday, April 8, before the museum prepares for the upcoming Wanda Gág “Fertile Ground” exhibit.

“I just hope they enjoy seeing them,” Ferrell said. “And maybe one day, one of those little kids will decide they want to make baskets, too.