It
started with a pine needle basket in June of 1994.
Pam has since traveled to Thailand with the Royalwood tour and has made 11 trips to Alaska since 1998,
to learn Pine Needle Basketry from Jeannie McFarland and Native Haida weaving with Delores Churchill. She also goes to harvest
and prepare her own western red and Alaskan yellow cedar barks and Sitka spruce root.
She loves everything about weaving, from the gathering and preparation of materials
to creating beautiful, mostly functional vessels. The connection of weaving across the cultures continues to amaze and inspire
her. Sharing her knowledge and continuing to learn from other weavers brings her great joy.
Pam has earned many awards, among
them; the AMB Best Coiled for General Membership in 2003. In 2004 she won the Teachers awards for both Coiled and Naturals,
for Coiled in 2005 and for both Coiled and Art Piece in 2006. Most recently she won the AMB best coiled
Teacher in 2009.
In 2001 she donated 3 weeks
and over 200 hours of time to weave a family of willow Tepees for the Ronald McDonald house, which are still used by the kids
today.
Pam teaches around the
country at conventions in Texas, North Carolina, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Alaska, Michigan, Georgia, Minnesota, Tennessee,
Virginia, Ohio and Wisconsin, to name a few. She also teaches in her private studio in Waterford when she
is not on the road.
Pam completed 3 baskets
for the Hoard Museum of Fort Atkinson which are on permanent display in their Mystery of the Mounds Exhibit, opened April
2009.
Pam has been invited to
Himachal Pradesh, India in November of 2010 to teach the local women pine needle basketry so that they may have an industry
and make use of their long leaf pine needles. Over a course of 3-4 weeks she will teach hundreds from the
villages a marketable skill for a fair trade industry.