Melinda West | West Gardens Basketry

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

  • About
    • Art Resume
    • Artist Statement – Land Acknowledgement
    • Teaching, Exhibits, Projects
  • Galleries
    • Functional Ribbed Work
    • Wall Pieces
    • Woven and Folded Bark
    • Sculptural Blends
    • Community
  • Workshops
  • Weaving Knowledge
    • Workshops
    • My Teachers
    • Resources
  • Blog
  • Contact

A Moist March Day in the Woods

March 12, 2013 By Melinda

The past two moist March weeks I’ve been lucky to spend time diving into the experience of Plant-Fiber Technology with 90 wonderful young people, while teaching at IslandWood, a fantastic environmental learning center in Washington State. Here are some pictures of the budding young artists at work.

20130312-212816.jpg

Students pictured in this blog entry are from two Seattle schools:  Highland Park Elementary, and North Beach Elementary.  Our focus project for the 2.5 hour sessions was for them to each create their own Coiled Cordage Pendant out of the humble plant materials provided.

 

20130312-213428.jpg

This is the incredible work space provided by IslandWood. The Art Studio is a circular-walled building made with straw-bale-hay construction.  It is a teaching-artist’s dream, with space for us to move around as we learn. I’ve set-up plant identification cards in the exhibit area with quotes and pictures from many teachers from local First Peoples cultures that have directly influenced and motivated me to promote the value of intellectual, human, and biological diversity through teaching the traditional art of Plant-Fiber Technology.

 

20130312-213524.jpg

Here students are twisting away to make cordage out of the long leaves of the “invasive” Yellow-Flag Iris.

 

20130312-213634.jpg

To give students a firm frame to work off of as they learn the coiled basketry technique, they started their pendant with a small hoop, made of recently pruned limbs from either Western Red Cedar or apple trees. They used colorful donated yarns as the wrapping and sewing elements as they learned to stitch the cordage in a spiral, sewing each coil to the previous coil.

 

20130312-213701.jpg

 

20130312-213734.jpg

The last step was to make Nature Beads.  I had brought in lots of materials to work with, scouring rush, thimble berry stems, Swamp Dogwood and River willow limbs, Highbush Cranberry stems, Forsythia branches.

 

20130312-213801.jpg

Any fresh materials with either hollow centers, or soft pithy centers can be easily reamed out with quick-change bits.

 

20130312-213912.jpg

We’ve used parts of the plants and trees to create something for ourselves, so now it’s time to give back something to the earth.  This is part of what it means to have a relationship. We give, we take. We take, we give back.

 

20130312-213930.jpg

Students find a place they agree “looks good” for planting their baby cedar tree.

 

20130312-214325.jpg

 

20130312-214409.jpg

Students help each other put their beads on their necklaces.

 

20130312-214424.jpg

Making Nature Beads is almost as addictive as making cordage!

 

20130312-214446.jpg

Really nice work!

 

20130312-214524.jpg

Each Pendant is as different and as beatiful as each of these artists!

 

20130312-214542.jpg

This creative student used scouring rush as a small vase to hold a feather on her pendant.

 

20130312-214609.jpg

 

20130312-214620.jpg

 

20130312-214633.jpg

My reward is seeing pride and satisfaction in a students’ face, or by their body-language, when they show me their work.  And all through our experience together, I love listening to their voices, and watching them help each other through what is at first a very difficult process.

 

20130312-214643.jpg

Learning is always difficult at first.  But one of the most important lessons that working with plants can teach us, is to be patient with ourselves and each other.

 

I’ll post more about our art-making experience at IslandWood soon. Thanks for listening!

Filed Under: Students, Weaving Nature, Workshops Tagged With: Coiled Cordage Pendant, Highland Park Elementary, invasive plant, IslandWood, nature beads, North Beach Elementary, Small Plant Fiber Projects, spring, Western red cedar, Yellow Flag Iris

Search the site

Subscribe

Blog Categories

Connect with Melinda

  • Facebook
  • Instagram

Recent Posts

  • Weaving Project With Periscope Woodcraft
  • Food Along the Trail – Big Leaf Maple Flower Fritters
  • Weaving Nature Workshop Fall 2022 at BARN
  • Paper From Plants – A Lesson in Resilience
  • Fireweed and Nettle Fiber Papers

Popular Blog Topics

art Art in the Woods Studio Tour Artistic Weaving With Western Red Cedar Bainbridge Artisan Resource Network Bainbridge Artisans Resource Network BARN BARN workshops baskets cedar bark Cedar From Tree To Pouch Clam Basket A Story By Ed Carriere class community creative Cultural Arts Foundation NW design early spring Ed Carriere English ivy Fall First Peoples grasses inner cedar bark IslandWood ivy Katie Jennings leaves new work North Cascades Institute NW sweetgrass Pacific Northwest Paper making Small Plant Fiber Projects spring students summer Suquamish Sydni Sterling Studio teaching vines weaving Weaving With Western Red Cedar Western red cedar winter workshop

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.
Read More
Melinda West and basket, Indianola WA

Copyright © 2022 Melinda West | West Gardens Basketry | Indianola | Washington | USA

Site by LND