Melinda West | West Gardens Basketry

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

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Hazelnut In Spring

June 3, 2022 By Melinda

I was invited to teach a Ribbed Basket Workshop this September at the Bainbridge Artisans Resource Network, or BARN. This is giving me the opportunity to slow down a minute and extrapolate some of the things I know about working with plants. Sometimes I take for granted what I’ve learned, because it’s what I do everyday, and it isn’t any more … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Artwork, Community, News, Plants and Places, Weaving from the Wild, Workshops Tagged With: BARN, BARN workshops, hazelnut, Hazelnut shoots, Ribbed Basket Con, ribbed construction, Ribbed Garden Basket, Ribbed Gift Basket

Weaving Nature Workshop Fall 2022 at BARN

April 13, 2022 By Melinda

Harvest Basket

Hello - Are you still there? My blogs have been sparse these past several years. My explanation is simple. The late Upper Skagit Elder, Vi Hilbert, many times said that her elders told her: “If you’re talking, you’re not listening!” Let’s just say I’ve been doing my best to be listening, and reading, and listening, and reflecting, and … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Community, My Teachers, News, Upcoming, Weaving Nature, Workshops Tagged With: Appalachian Egg Basket, Bainbridge Artisan Resource Network, BARN, BARN workshops, branch work, gathering, Skagit elder Vi Hilbert, Weaving From The Wild, Weaving Nature

Paper From Plants – A Lesson in Resilience

September 26, 2021 By Melinda

The word resilience comes to mind while making papers from plants. Heronswood Gardens is located on the Kitsap Peninsula in Washington State. It is owned and operated by the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe and Heronswood is a wonderful place to contemplate the meaning of resilience. In 2019 Kara Horton and I received a grant from the Port Gamble … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Artistic Uses of Plant Fibers, Artwork, Community, News, Plants and Places, Students, Workshops

Plants Have Fibers – And Other Good Lessons

September 9, 2021 By Melinda

Thank you for looking at this blog. I haven’t been writing much this past year, for various reasons, but I hope to share more with you in the coming months. Last year was dedicated to working on some projects I’d started, but never seemed to have the time to finish, like the Suquamish-Indianola Storytelling Project. I learned that sometimes … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Artistic Uses of Plant Fibers, Artwork, Community, News, Plants and Places, Upcoming Tagged With: Heronswood Garden, inclusions, Kara Horton-Wright, Michelle Berg, Paper making, paper making workshop, papermaking, Port Gamble S’Klallam, Sue Smith, The Basketry School, wood Hyacinth

Ed Carriere’s Residency at Bloedel Reserve

March 13, 2021 By Melinda

It was a delight to spend a sunny afternoon this March visiting Suquamish Master Weaver and Cultural Teacher, Ed Carriere, during his Artist in Residency at the Bloedel Reserve. Suquamish Elder, Marilyn Wandrey, Ed’s younger cousin, explored the native woodland landscape on Bainbridge Island that surrounds the beautiful house where Ed is … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Community, My Teachers, News, Upcoming, Weaving with Cedar Tagged With: Artist in Residency, Bloedel Reserve, Ed Carriere, Marilyn Wandrey, National Museum of Natural History, National Treasures, Split Cedar Limbs, Split Cedar Roots

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About Melinda

Forty 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. It looked wildly made like a crazy bird’s nest. While being together with my two sons on a beautiful Pacific Northwest shoreline, this simple experience of crafting with the natural materials at hand kindled a passion for creating forms using plant fibers. I thank my family, my community, and all my teachers for cultivating this gift in me.
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