Melanie Walter – DISCONTINUED
Pine Garden Baskets - Limited items available.
Wilmington, NC
Over the past 15 years, Melanie has developed her own long leaf pine needle basket making style, incorporating many other natural items into her work including sliced black walnuts, North Carolina river cane, hickory nuts, and shells.
Having grown up in the metropolitan New York area, Melanie Walter was exposed to the arts at an early age. Throughout her life, she had an interest in expressing 
herself creatively and loved to learn new skills in which to channel her creative energies. These skills were in the areas of music, voice, language, and most importantly, the visual arts.
Melanie found her creative home in clay and ceramics in the early 1970’s. She attended Keystone College and worked with artist William Tersteeg, first as a student and then as a studio assistant. Melanie loved all facets of working in clay, and still does today as she works with well-known artist Hiroshi Sueyoshi in Wilmington, NC.
In the mid-1990’s, Melanie came upon her first pine needle basket while helping a friend set up a local exhibit. She became interested in learning how to make these beautiful baskets, and could see how her background in clay could be utilized; both pine needle baskets and hand-built clay pots employed the use of coils to build their form.
Over the past 15 years, Melanie has developed her own long leaf pine needle basket making style, incorporating many other natural items into her work including sliced black walnuts, North Carolina river cane, hickory nuts, and shells. Very recently, Melanie has begun adding clay components to her pine needle baskets, which will take her work in a new and exciting direction.
