Melinda West | West Gardens Basketry

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

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Artistic Uses of Plant Fibers

My workshops are an introduction to skills and technologies giving access to the creative use of plant fibers. Here are some of the design-build workshops I’ve taught that blur the borders of art and craft, merging fiber techniques with sculptural weaving and paper-making.

The workshops here include: Design and Build with NW Plant Materials, Sculptural Weaving and Paper-Making, Creative Uses of NW Plant Materials, Non-Traditional Uses of NW Plant Materials, Innovation With Invasives, Paper Making from the Garden.

Late Winter Papermaking – Mixing Siberian Iris Leaves and Lichens

On the menu for papermaking – as late winter wind storms loosened lichens from the trees and dropped them all over the trails I walk along, I recognize this gift from the canopy above.

Here’s What’s Cooking – Porch Paper Making

To remain sane, what do you do? I’m cooking Sword Ferns this month to see if the green leaves can make a good paper.

Mathewson and West’s Woven Wearables Workshop at BARN

Mathewson and West collaborate to teach “Woven Wearables” at Bainbridge Artisans Resource Network.

Woven Wearables with Mathewson & West

Mathewson and West’s October Workshop At Bainbridge Artisans Resource Network

Spend three inspired days exploring local plant-fiber use and universal fiber techniques with two contemporary plant-fiber artists, Margaret Mathewson and Melinda West, at the Bainbridge Artisans Resource Network.

Fish Skin Preparation into a Material For Craft

Koyukon and Athabascan Artist, Audrey Armstrong, recently taught a Fish Skin Workshop at Bainbridge Artisans Resource Network. I’ll be sharing bits of what we learned. She was a wonderful teacher.

Bloedel Reserve Residency Notes #2

I am grateful for the affirmation and support I’ve received as a participant in the 2023 Bloedel Reserve’s Creative Residency Program.

Paper From Plants – A Lesson in Resilience

Port Gamble S’Klallam Community Awards Program made this artistic weekend of Paper Making With Plants possible.

Plants Have Fibers – And Other Good Lessons

Thank you for looking at this blog. I haven’t been writing much this past year, for various reasons, but I hope to share more with you in the coming months. Last year was dedicated to working on some projects I’d started, but never seemed to have the time to finish, like the Suquamish-Indianola Storytelling Project. […]

Cedar Satchels

Woven Cedar Bark Satchel or Purse

Learn the basics of the traditional art of weaving with Cedar.

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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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