Melinda West | West Gardens Basketry

Growing, gathering, and weaving with plant fibers from the Pacific Northwest

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Bare Bones Abstracts

January 28, 2021 By Melinda

Bare Bones One by Melinda West

Those of you who are weavers, that work with plant materials you grow and gather yourself, likely understand that building a fine basket takes a lot of time. Sometimes it’s freeing to allow oneself to do a type of work that isn’t about the perfection of the weaving, but instead is more about allowing beautiful materials to breath, to gesture, like … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Artwork, Community, News Tagged With: Bare Bones, Curly Willow, Fig, hazelnut, inner cedar bark, willow, Yew

A Space to Work and Meet

January 24, 2021 By Melinda

This has been a year hasn’t it? Fear of losing family and friends to a virus that is transmitted unwittingly by those with no symptoms. Uncertainty. Misinformation. No work, or work from home. No school, or school from home. A daily bombardment from those in leadership who behave the opposite of how we hope to raise our children to behave. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Community, News, Upcoming Tagged With: branch work, Paper making, students, studio, West Woods Working

Cedar Bark – Useful and Beautiful

December 6, 2020 By Melinda

Cedar Yarn Basket by Melinda West

There is something quite amazing about the qualities of the inner bark of the Western Red Cedar. These qualities have been understood by the Indigenous Peoples of the Pacific Northwest for thousands of years. It means a lot to know that some people in todays easy shopping world, where a container for yarn is but one-click away on a computer or … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Artwork, Plants and Places

October 2020 London Craft Week at J&M Davidson

October 5, 2020 By Melinda

Lyons, Cedar By The Sea - A

It’s Fall now. The air is crisp in the shade all day, making the sun’s warmth, where found, ever more delicious. In any normal year, I’d be scrambling right now to finish all the half-made baskets and art experiments that I’d started but pushed to the side for other priority work and deadlines. That would always manage to fill the small gallery … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Artwork, News, Upcoming Tagged With: Art in the Woods, J&M Davidson, London, London Craft Week, London Craft Week 2020, Meet the Maker, Sydni Sterling Studio, Sydni Sterling's Studio

Land Acknowledgement 2020

August 22, 2020 By Melinda

Walking to the studio-image by Claire Dibble

Land Acknowledgement 2020 I acknowledge that I reside on the traditional territory of the Suquamish Peoples, People of the Clear Salt Water, whose ancestors have lived here from time immemorial, preserving the land and waters that five generations of my own family have benefitted from. I express my deepest respect and gratitude for all indigenous … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Community, My Teachers, News, Plants and Places, Resources Tagged With: Land Acknowledgement, Marilyn Wandrey, S’Klallam, Suquamish

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  • Bare Bones Abstracts
  • A Space to Work and Meet
  • Cedar Bark – Useful and Beautiful
  • October 2020 London Craft Week at J&M Davidson
  • Land Acknowledgement 2020

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About Melinda

Thirty years ago, while sitting on the beach playing with my young children, I made my first basket out of a pile of willow trimmings someone had tossed there. The experience of weaving with the materials at hand while being together with my sons on a beautiful Pacific Northwest shoreline, kindled a passion for creating art from natural plant materials. I thank my family, my community, and all my teachers for cultivating this gift in me.
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