Melinda West | West Gardens Basketry

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

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My Teachers

Since time immemorial Indigenous cultures all over the world have gathered, refined, and passed forward their Traditional Ecological Knowledge through practicing their traditional arts, including plant fiber technologies such as weaving. Passing forward earth sciences and cultural knowledge in such a way is part of the oral tradition. Unlike the modern industrial culture of today, the oral traditions come with the understanding and point of view of reciprocity, inclusion, and personal relationships.

Weaving with plant fibers is a living art form. Nothing I write or share in this website can substitute for a relationship with a Living Master at their craft. I implore you, if you are interested in learning anything well, please look, and find a Living Master near you. Or travel to them if you can. I think about the knowledge I've been given as a tree. My teachers and my own ancestors are the roots and sap, my origins.  My family and community are strength of the trunk, which supports me in every way. My students, and their students, are the branches and the seeds. We are all part of a forest of living knowledge.

Knowledge is a Gift – Audrey Armstrong at Bainbridge Artisans Resource Network

I didn’t mean to keep you waiting so long, but here are the last highlights of Audrey Armstrong’s Fish Skin Workshop at BARN.

Audrey Armstrong Teaches at BARN – Bainbridge Artisans Resource Network

Last month, Audrey Armstrong came to the Kitsap Peninsula with her family, to share her particular knowledge about the use of fish skins as a material for art and craft making.

Audrey Armstrong Inspires by Teaching Salmon Skin Sewing

Story & Photography by Bethany Goodrich – Bethany Goodrich is a multimedia storyteller living, loving and working in Southeast Alaska. She has worked around the globe, from Antarctica to Ghana, exploring how thoughtful story sharing can positively impact our communities, ecosystems and world.

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.

Repost of a 2020 Interview with J & M Davidson for London Craft Week

Blowing the dust off of piles of past work, I found this interview from The Covid Era which may be of interest.

Water Is Life – A Song Worth Hearing

A song by Oliver Enjady and Lyla June. I hope you can listen.

Suquamish Elder Ed Carriere is a 2023 National Heritage Fellow

We who know Ed Carriere, have always seen him as a treasured teacher and an encyclopedia of traditional ecological knowledge. But now he will truly be honored as a 2023 National Heritage Fellowship Recipient.

Living Teachers, Living Landscapes, Living Students

A few thoughts after a long pause from writing to you.

Clusters of Big Leaf Maple Flowers

Food Along the Trail – Big Leaf Maple Flower Fritters

Elise Krohn and Sable Bruce, of GRuB & Gather, Tend & Grow, have generously shared a delicious recipe during their presentation to the South Sound Chapter of the Washington Native Plant Society.

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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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