Melinda West | West Gardens Basketry

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

A New Years Greeting

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Welcome to 2014. I have so much to be grateful for. Family, friends, health, a warm home, good food from our garden, and an occupation that I love. Weaving with plants, being outside close to the birds and the bugs, building and creating whatever comes to mind, gosh, this sounds a bit like a childhood dream! For now this dreamer is content to get … [Read more...]

The Odyssey Program 1st and 2nd Grades

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This May I was happy to be invited to teach an ethnobotany lesson to Peggy Koivu's 1st and 2nd graders in the Odyssey Program, from the Bainbridge Island School District, at Camp Indianola, in Indianola, Washington. Here is one group of students making 'nature beads' out of 1" lengths of Red Osier Dogwood and Swamp Willow twigs, that were … [Read more...]

Artist in Residence at IslandWood

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  This March I was delighted to spend two weeks as an Artist in Residence at IslandWood, a 'School in the Woods' on Bainbridge Island, just a ferry ride away from the city of Seattle.  I worked with competent, considerate  5th graders from Aberdeen, Bremerton, and Mercer Island; and junior-high/high school age students from Seattle and … [Read more...]

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