Date and time: Thursday, February 19, 2026, 6:30 pm PDT

Location: Online via Zoom (all Guild members will receive a Zoom link prior to the event)

Cost: Free

Description: From Carolyn Zeitler, “My exploration with basketry began after meeting basket maker, Ruth Sutton Albee in the winter of 1978 in Carmel, California. Ruth was in her early seventies when we first met and had been making pine needle baskets for years, having learned as a Camp Fire Girl in Illinois in the 1920’s. I was weaving at that time and thought it would be interesting to create woven pieces using pine needles. Little did I know that pine needle basketry would become a lifetime exploration.

Ruth’s summer job was working as a fire lookout for the US Forest Service. Wanting a break to go mountain hiking in the Himalayas, I took over Ruth’s job, in the summer of 1979, at the Cone Peak Fire Lookout in the Los Padres National Forest in Monterey County. Making baskets there was natural, since the Coulter Pine grows abundantly in the Santa Lucia mountains and there was an abundance of time to create.

I graduated from San Jose State University in California in 1976 with a degree in ceramics and weaving. My baskets combine the shapes I would make with clay with the texture and colors I would use with weaving. There are inherent limitations to the medium that create a challenge for me to search beyond those boundaries, to be curious about the possibilities, and explore the potential of what pine needles can actually do. This is where the true art comes into being and allows others to see the possibilities of needles and maker.”

This event is meant for Guild members only. If you are not a Guild member, but would like to become one, click here. Images below are courtesy of Carolyn Zeitler.

See more from Carolyn: https://www.carolynzeitler.com/