Joanna Schanz: Transcript

Amana basket maker
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When I became part of this community, it was like back in the ’60s. I lived upstairs with my husband and our children. Upstairs apartment, downstairs was his grandparents, the wing of the house was his parents. I kept hearing the word “outsider.” But because I married an Amana boy, I wasn’t really considered an outsider. But his grandparents used the word “outsider” a lot. His parents didn’t. Now, I rarely hear the word “outsider.”

My name is Joanna Schanz. I was born and raised in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. I met my husband in the ’60s. We got married, and he brought me down to the Amana Colonies to live, in what became a four-generation house. We opened a broom and basket shop in West Amana. We had the broom machine that Philip Griess had made brooms on, so we learned how to make brooms. I wanted to know—I wanted information on basket weaving. So, other people in the community told me to go see Philip Dickel in Middle Amana. I went to see Philip Dickel. I asked him to tell me about basket weaving so that I can put the information in the shop. And he said, “I’ll show you.” So then he came to the shop. We planted willows together. He showed me how to plant the willows. About three years later, we cut the willows together. He showed me how to sort the willows. He sat down and wove a basket. Then Philip sat me down and watched while I wove a basket, and he corrected me and guided me in making my very first basket.

Before 1932, there were basket shops in each village. It was something that was traditionally done. There were baskets all over the house. My husband’s grandparents, his parents, they used baskets. When we opened the basket shop, it was natural to want to know how to make baskets. And once Philip taught me, I just got hooked, addicted to making baskets. And I’ve just been doing it ever since.

Amana basket has some very special features. Number one, the willow basket is made out of cultured willow that we grow, harvest, and process. We put a removable bottom foot, which is traditionally German. The pieces of willow you take off the top of the basket are put down back into the bottom of the basket. That’s where you weave a row of weaving. And then you border down on the bottom, and that makes a nice ledge. Now, this basket foot will take the wear and tear of everyday use. When the foot breaks, or wears down, wears off, it can be pulled off and replaced. Plus, they deal with the traditional German style of weaving, which sometimes is, the techniques are a little bit different than the English willow weaving. The removable bottom foot is only taught to be made on the agricultural baskets in Germany, where here in Amana they continue to put the removable bottom foot on all their baskets—whether it was a little basket that was used inside and not going to have much wear and tear, or the garden baskets.

A lot of the Old Amana baskets, you’ll find initials on them. The initials could mean, Ida Werner. I have a basket, I.W.; that belonged to Ida Werner. Some of the baskets, H.K. that would have been somebody’s kitchen. The basket belonged to the kitchen house, so that was identifying it. And it was just painted on the side of the basket, the initials of who it, the initials of who the basket belonged to.

Baskets were made for just about anything and everything. They had huge baskets that were made in the woolen mill, used for the woolen mill. There are the community kitchen baskets. We think of as a community kitchen, usually oval with a handle, that those who could not go to the community kitchen to get their lunch went to the kitchen with their community kitchen basket, picked up their lunch and brought it back to the home.