Melinda West | West Gardens Basketry

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

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August 26-27 – Weaving Nature-Plant Fiber Projects Blending Culture, Science & Art

July 29, 2017 By Melinda

Dividing the inner and outer bark layers

Each year for the past fifteen, I've had the privilege of spending two intensive weeks teaching the craft of weaving with plant fibers, to young people with wildly diverse backgrounds, between the ages of 8 and 14.  As an Artist in Residence at IslandWood, an environmental education campus on Bainbridge Island, just a ferry ride across the water … [Read more...]

Filed Under: News, Upcoming, Weaving Nature, Workshops Tagged With: Artist in the Woods Residency, Bainbridge Artisan Resource Network, BARN, cattail, iris, IslandWood, Project for kids, publication, Science & Art, Seasonal Round, Traditional Ecological Knowlede, vines, Weaving Naure - Plant Fiber Projects Blending Culture, Western red cedar, workshop

Grateful for Wonderful Students

July 31, 2016 By Melinda

Folded Cedar Bark Pouch with Braided Border and Shell Button

I've been meaning to catch up on blogging, but life has its way! Between a bumper crop of raspberries and Marionberries to pick, regular harvesting of our produce, family gatherings, and a lovely hike in the Olympics with friends, I've been silent! I hope to remedy this beginning now, with some entries that are retrospective of the past year or … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Students, Weaving with Cedar, Workshops Tagged With: Bainbridge Artisan Resource Network, BARN, Cedar From Tree To Pouch, spring, students, teaching, workshop

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

Cedar Workshop June 6, 2015

May 12, 2015 By Melinda

Cedar Bark Pouch

June 6, 2015, I'll be teaching a workshop at the Rolling Barn, in Rolling Bay Washington.  I'll be bringing in a freshly cut Western Red Cedar tree so students can learn from the tree to the finishing, how to make a folded cedar bark pouch.  The class size is limited so every person will get plenty of individualized attention. There will be enough … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Students, Weaving with Cedar, Workshops Tagged With: Bainbridge Artisans Resource Network, BARN, Cedar From Tree To Pouch, spring, students, Weaving With Western Red Cedar, Western red cedar, workshop

Weaving Summer

July 22, 2014 By Melinda

some students with their baskets

If summer could be woven into a basket, this past Saturday's "Wild Twined Herb and Flower Basket" class at the Rolling BARN is it! The Rolling BARN is the interim location for the Bainbridge Artisans Resource Network, or BARN, http://bainbridgebarn.org We had a creative day in a really nice space that the volunteer members of BARN have been … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Students, Weaving from the Wild, Workshops Tagged With: Bainbridge Artisans Resource Network, BARN, cedar, class, English ivy, herbs, ivy, Small Plant Fiber Projects, students, summer, twined, Wild Twined Herb and Flower Basket, workshop

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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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