Bullman Beach Inn

Cedar Basket Making Weekend Retreat

**POSTPONED** NEW DATES TBA. Email relax@bullmanbeach.com if you would like to express interest in the Cedar Basket Making Weekend Retreat. We will notify you first when new dates are firmed up! Thank you for understanding. 

Cedar Basket Making • Weekend Beach Retreat
on the Beautiful Olympic Peninsula: April 3, 4 and 5

 

Venture to a secluded beach hideaway for a weekend-long cedar basket-making workshop instructed by Melissa Peterson, traditional Makah basket-maker, and hosted at Bullman Beach Inn (5 miles east of Neah Bay, WA). Travel along the scenic Strait of Juan de Fuca & settle in for the weekend in cozy and clean beachfront lodging. This weekend workshop is designed to offer the opportunity to learn about this unique skill and put it into practice making your own basket. Each person will make a 4-inch cedar bark basket with twinning. Workshop space is on site at Bullman Beach Inn, just steps away from your room and the beach. Leave distractions behind and immerse yourself in the natural and inspiring landscape while crafting a beautiful keepsake. Materials: Each student should bring a pocket knife or other small knife for splitting. All other materials and handouts provided. Capped at 7 participants*.

ABOUT MELISSA PETERSON:
Melissa Peterson, a member of the Makah tribe of Neah Bay, Washington, learned to weave as a child and continued learning the tradition through adulthood. Over the years she has mastered many styles of basket weaving traditional to the Makah people including some older styles that are rarely practiced today. She has specialized in the Ozette-style Makah baskets, an 800-year old tradition of her people. Melissa’s most recent artistic innovation was to master the “burden basket,” one of the most difficult to make because it involves gathering of materials at different times of the year and preparing each material individually. Melissa is also dedicated to maintaining the association between the Makah language and the art of basket-making. The Northwest Native American Basketweavers Association has selected her twice as a featured basket weaver and she has been involved with activities at the Makah Cultural and Research Center since it opened. Melissa has had the opportunity to teach her daughters this ancient art through the Washington State Arts Commission Apprenticeship Program. Daughters Madeline Kelby of Seattle and Samantha Della have been weaving since childhood and continue to carry on their family’s traditional weavings. Their apprenticeship allowed them to learn more about wrap twine basketry and other techniques, Makah language basketry terms, and gathering of traditional materials such as sweet grass and bear grass. Kelby and Della hope to carry on the traditions of the Makah, and pass them on to the next generations. – Bio from Arbutus Folk School

Registration includes:

    • Workshop led by Melissa Peterson
    • Two nights lodging at Bullman Beach Inn at special retreat rates
      (Rooms 1, 2 and 5 have 2 twin beds & a hide-a-bed sofa. Room 4 has one queen bed and a hide-a-bed sofa. All rooms have full kitchen, living room and full bath. No smoking indoors, no pets. See website for more info & images. See special rates below.)
    • Self-serve breakfast bar (Saturday & Sunday): an assortment of packaged goods, cereals, oatmeals, yogurt & fruit
  • S’mores by the fire (Saturday, weather permitting)

Retreat and Lodging:
Only four rooms available—Rooms 1, 2 and 5 have 2 twin beds and a hide-a-bed couch. Room 4 has one queen bed and a hide-a-bed couch. Tax included in pricing chart.

 

** Participants will not be placed at random with other participants in rooms. Those wanting to share a room must register together.

Retreat Schedule
Friday, April 3
Check-in 3pm or after unless arranged in advance
6:30 pm
Meet & greet, materials discussion & prep led by Melissa Peterson

Saturday, April 4
7:30am – 9am
Breakfast bar open
9:30am – 12pm
Workshop: material prep, begin working on body of basket
12pm-1pm
Lunch (on your own)
1pm – 6pm
Workshop: Body of basket
6pm – 8pm
Dinner on your own (Optional order-in dinner from Calvin’s Crab House – not included in registration price) / Free time
8pm
Beach bonfire & s’mores (Weather permitting, you are also welcome to start one earlier)

Sunday, April 5
7:30am – 9am
Breakfast bar open
9am – 11am
Workshop: Finish baskets (**More time available if basket is not yet completed)
11am – 12:30pm
Check-out

Ideas for early arrivals / extended stays:
Check-in on Friday is 3pm or after unless arranged in advance. Some attendees may choose to add a night or two onto either end of the workshop retreat. You could even fit in one or two of these activities with a 3pm Friday arrival:

    • Cape Flattery (Northwestern-most point in the lower 48) (11 miles away, trail is ~1.5mi roundtrip)
    • Hobuck Beach
    • Tsoo-Yess Beach
    • Shi Shi Beach Trail (13 miles from BBI, ~4mi roundtrip, more if you walk to Point of the Arches)
    • Makah Museum / Makah Cultural & Research Center (Give yourself at least an hour. Gift shop open during museum hours. There is a basket exhibition currently on display.)
    • Surf, beachcomb, hike, birdwatch
  • We also highly recommend taking all the opportunities you have to walk along Bullman Beach or to watch the waves roll in from the warmth and coziness of your room. No need to venture far, or at all 🙂

A bit further away, but also perhaps on the way depending on which way you’re coming from:

    • Ozette Trail(s)
    • Hurricane Ridge
    • Lake Crescent
    • La Push
    • Rialto Beach
  • Hoh Rainforest

Click on the “Explore” tab on our website for more ideas on where and what to explore.

CALL 360.645.2306 to RESERVE YOUR SPOT!
Email or call for questions. relax@bullmanbeach.com

*Depending on interest / room arrangements we may be able to open a couple more spots for participants.