Online: The Beauty of Basketry and Tending the Land

The Beauty of Basketry and Tending the Land
Timara Lotah Link, Shmuwich Chumash

Free Online Presentation with Q&A
Thursday, November 18th, 5:30 pm

In my language, I am an ’alaleqwel, a maker, and I am much more than just a textile artist—I am a rich tapestry of human connections—to the past, to the present, and to the future. As a textile artist, I make things that people explore with their hands. Texture, shape, weight, and most importantly, emotional memories are what an object can pull from the person cradling it. When I weave, my skill and patterns, and process all come from a life intertwined with native plants. I know their seasons, their strengths and weaknesses, their habitats and families, and most of all, I know they welcome my gifts of water, my songs, my digging, pruning, cutting, tugging, cursing, laughing…

Working with native plants means that I must adjust/respond to their inherent “perfect imperfections” of form, shape, quality, and availability. It teaches me patience and lets my work grow organically; my finished work is never exactly the shape, pattern, or even function that I had planned. Native plants teach me to let go….“Let go of what you can’t control. Channel that energy into living fully in the now.” – Karen Salmansohn

This talk is being live-streamed via Zoom. To register go to https://santabarbaraca.evanced.info/signup/EventDetails?EventId=34571&backTo=Calendar&startDate=2021/11/10

This free online presentation is part of the Trail Talks Series hosted by the Santa Barbara Public Library.

The next talk in the series is Thursday, December 16th, 5:30 pm, Hiking the Oregon Coast Trail with Bonnie Henderson, author of Hiking the Oregon Coast Trail.