My name is Maggie LeDuc. I was born in Toronto, Canada and came to the Southern California area when I was 5 years old. I attended grammar, high school and college in the Southern California area. My main interest in school was competing in team and individual sports where I excelled.

I obtained my Masters Degree in Physical Education and started teaching at the high school level in the L.A. area before securing a job at Santa Monica College, where I taught P.E. classes and coached numerous teams. I went back to school in 1986 and received a Masters degree in Social Work and combined teaching and counseling while at the college.

My interest in the outdoors occurred through athletics and working in a camp fire girl’s camp at 20 years of age. Working at the camp was a life changing experience. I was able to be in the mountains and experience nature, clear skies, stars at night and streams to cross. My life had been spent in the city and now I was free and connecting to nature. I was in heaven. Every summer after my camp counseling experience, I would travel and visit other states, countries and meet lots of different people in their own cultures and environment. So I’d take my backpack, sleeping bag in hand and off I went. I loved being free and in the natural beauty that surrounded me every day.

Growing up, my experience in the art world was non-existent. I was under the impression that to be an artist, one should be able to sing, dance, draw, paint, or play a musical instrument which I couldn’t do. I never believed that I had any artistic talent until someone told me that the way I taught my students, the way I gardened and how I worked with people, the photographs that I took of my travels were an art into themselves.

I took my first pine needle basket workshop at the Long Beach Nature center in 2004. I had always loved projects and working with my hands. The opportunity to work with pine needles and make something out of them intrigued me.

That was the start of little by little coming out as an artist. I loved working with colors, natural fibers and different shapes and seeing a project to its completion.

On this journey, I’ve been blessed with some wonderful mentors and teachers both in basketry and gourd art.

After making baskets for several years, a friend suggested that I take a gourd class with Don Weeke at the Misty Washington workshop weekend. Imagine my surprise that one could make art work out of gourds and that I could combine the basketry with gourd art. I really enjoyed putting different objects, textures, colors and fibers together into a piece. It is wonderful to see the finished piece and to say that I created it.

I love taking walks and picking up little treasures on my walks to put into my art work. It feels wonderful to be able to recycle bits of nature and share it with others.

I feel blessed that I have found my creative spirit and re-affirmed my connection to nature and all that she has given me through all of these years.

Thank you for visiting our web site and happy creating.

Maggie LeDuc