Weaving workshop offered at Museum

KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. –A workshop on weaving methods used by Northwest Indigenous peoples will be presented Saturday, Nov. 4, 2023, at the Klamath County Museum.

Two classes will be offered, with one on making pine needle baskets, and the other on tule mats.

Cost for the workshop is $10 per person, and space is limited. Contact the museum at (541) 882-1000 to reserve space. The fee will be refunded at the end of the workshop for those who attend.

The workshop will run from 9:00 a.m. to mid-afternoon. Participants should bring their own lunch.

A reception with a meal provided will be held for workshop participants on Friday evening, Nov. 3. Samples of Indigenous woven objects from the Klamath-Modoc area will be displayed during the reception.

All materials needed for the workshop will be provided. The workshop is funded by a grant from the Longhouse Education and Cultural Center at Evergreen College in Olympia, Wash.

Celeste Whitewolf of Tigard will lead the session on pine needle basketry. She has presented workshops at numerous locations around the Northwest over the past 10 years.

Whitewolf said she has been creating things all her life, but only later focused her attention on weaving.

“I did not know why I had such a drive to become a weaver until I traveled to my paternal grandmother’s Karuk tribal homeland for a weaving gathering,” she said. “There I saw pictures of my grandmother’s elders sitting beside their glorious spruce root baskets.”

Brosnan Spencer, a member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla, will conduct the session on weaving mats from tule. She has been conducting workshops for the past four years.