Melinda West | West Gardens Basketry

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

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Feb 4, 2018 Workshop at IslandWood

December 18, 2017 By Melinda

Ribbed baskets made with various PNW materials

Gifts From The Landscape Weave a Ribbed Gathering Basket With Melinda West https://islandwood.org/event/gifts-landscape-weaving-ribbed-gathering-basket Sunday, Feb 4th, 9:00-4:00, 2018 At IslandWood Join Melinda West for a day in the Art Studio at IslandWood and learn to transform plant materials from the Pacific Northwest Landscape into … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Community, News, Upcoming, Weaving from the Wild, Workshops Tagged With: IslandWood, ribbed basketry, workshops

IslandWood Students 2014

July 2, 2014 By Melinda

Happy

This May I had the opportunity to bring a freshly cut Western Red Cedar tree with me to IslandWood so the young people I worked with each week could learn first hand why this tree has been, and still is, so highly valued by the Local First Peoples whose ancestors have lived along the rivers and shorelines of the Pacific Northwest for thousands of … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Students, Weaving Nature, Workshops Tagged With: artist in residence, graduate students, IslandWood, spring, students, teaching, Weaving With Western Red Cedar, workshops, woven cedar pouch necklace

Weaving From the Garden – Harvest

May 29, 2012 By Melinda

Harvest Basket

  This Harvest Basket is a Pacific Northwest version of a traditional ribbed gathering basket. In our little organic garden, I'm still using one of the first Harvest Baskets I made over 25 years ago, on a daily basis. I've refurbished it once, and it will likely last another 25 years. In this class students learn how to select and transform … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Weaving from the Wild, Workshops Tagged With: branches, class, decor, function, garden, grasses, inner cedar bark, leaves, ribbed, ribbed construction, students, utility, vines, Weaving From the Wild and Garden Landscapes, workshops

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Recent Posts

  • 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
  • Here’s What’s Cooking – Porch Paper Making

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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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