Melinda West | West Gardens Basketry

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

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IslandWood Artist Residency 2016

March 27, 2016 By Melinda

How does one share a piece of the big story of this place with the young people in our lives? One way is by sharing living traditional arts. That is what I do as a plant-fiber weaver and artist. Everything I have learned from my generous teachers was given to me with the hope of keeping three important things alive. One: to keep alive the native … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Students, Weaving Nature, Workshops Tagged With: AIR, artist residency, clam shell rattle necklace, graduate students, IslandWood, IW, students

Ichi-go ichi-e: IslandWood 2-7-2016

February 15, 2016 By Melinda

February 7th, 2016. The sun rises on a sleepy Sunday. Wow, am I happy to see this sunrise! I wonder who are the special people I will meet today? They don't mind missing the Super Bowl to learn cedar weaving! Sometimes an idiom so perfectly describes an experience that it must be remembered. "Ichi-go ichi-e" is an expression in the Japanese … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Students, Weaving with Cedar, Workshops Tagged With: community programs, inspiration, IslandWood, IW, students, Woven Cedar Satchel

Gifts from the Landscape – 2016

December 11, 2015 By Melinda

I am grateful to be able to teach a cedar bark weaving workshop at IslandWood this upcoming February. For those of you eager to learn about this cultural art form, but you might not have signed up in time, be sure to get on the wait list in case anyone cancels. https://islandwood.org/event/gifts-landscape-cedar-satchel   NEXT CLASS … [Read more...]

Filed Under: News, Weaving with Cedar, Workshops Tagged With: BARN, Cedar bark workshops, culture, IslandWood, IW, weaving, Western red cedar, workshop

IslandWood Pollinator Fence

January 15, 2015 By Melinda

Jen Prodzinski and Megan Carson

After reinforcing all the connections on the fence framework on one of the rainiest days in December, I've decided to be a fair weather weaver in 2015. So this is a great day to make progress, weaving in the Black bamboo and Western red cedar limbs at the bottom edge of the fence. Weaving begins with cedar splints that my husband, and son … [Read more...]

Filed Under: News Tagged With: bamboo, BI, cedar limbs, Cedar splints, IslandWood, IslandWood fence, IW, Paul West, Pollinator Alcove Fence, Sencer West, Wattle, wattle fence, Wattle weave, West Timbercraft, Western red cedar

IslandWood Cedar Class Feb 8, 2015

January 13, 2015 By Melinda

Melinda West, Cedar Vest

I will be teaching a class at IslandWood during their Community Open House. Please click on the link for more information. If the link doesn't work, go to, www.islandWood.org, click on community events, and scroll down to the class announcement. https://islandwood.org/event/cedar-bark-basket  … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Students, Weaving with Cedar, Workshops Tagged With: Cedar weaving, community programs, IslandWood, IW, NW sweetgrass, Small Woven Cedar Basket, Weaving With Western Red Cedar, woven cedar bark

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Recent Posts

  • Local History – Interview With Barbara Ann Lawrence – Suquamish Tribal Cultural Teacher and Storyteller
  • Porch Papermaking With Food Plants – Cardoon and Kale
  • Paper from the Ditch – Weathered Reed Canary Grass
  • Late Winter Papermaking – Mixing Siberian Iris Leaves and Lichens
  • More Spring Porch Papermaking – With Ivy Leaves

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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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Melinda West and basket, Indianola WA

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