LeeAnn Galusha works on a woven pine needle piece in her home studio on Monday, Sept. 5.
LeeAnn Galusha works on a woven pine needle piece in her home studio on Monday, Sept. 5.
LeeAnn Galusha works on a woven pine needle piece in her home studio on Monday, Sept. 5.
LeeAnn Galusha works on a woven pine needle piece in her home studio on Monday, Sept. 5.
ABOVE: LeeAnn Galusha shows off her travel kit filled with dyed pine needles on Sept. 5. BELOW: Galusha holds a woven piece in the Artists’ Gallery in Bozeman. RIGHT: Galusha works on a piece in her home studio.
LeeAnn Galusha works on a woven pine needle piece on Monday, Sept. 5, in the Artists' Gallery in Bozeman.
LeeAnn Galusha holds a woven pine needle piece on Monday, Sept. 5, in the Artists' Gallery in Bozeman.
LeeAnn Galusha’s pieces on display Sept. 5 in the Artists’ Gallery.
LeeAnn Galusha's woven pine needle piece inspired by contra dancing is on Monday, Sept. 5, in the Artists' Gallery in Bozeman.
LeeAnn Galusha works on a woven pine needle piece in her home studio on Monday, Sept. 5.
LeeAnn Galusha works on a woven pine needle piece in her home studio on Monday, Sept. 5.
LeeAnn Galusha works on a woven pine needle piece in her home studio on Monday, Sept. 5.
LeeAnn Galusha works on a woven pine needle piece in her home studio on Monday, Sept. 5.
ABOVE: LeeAnn Galusha shows off her travel kit filled with dyed pine needles on Sept. 5. BELOW: Galusha holds a woven piece in the Artists’ Gallery in Bozeman. RIGHT: Galusha works on a piece in her home studio.
LeeAnn Galusha works on a woven pine needle piece on Monday, Sept. 5, in the Artists' Gallery in Bozeman.
LeeAnn Galusha holds a woven pine needle piece on Monday, Sept. 5, in the Artists' Gallery in Bozeman.
LeeAnn Galusha’s pieces on display Sept. 5 in the Artists’ Gallery.
LeeAnn Galusha's woven pine needle piece inspired by contra dancing is on Monday, Sept. 5, in the Artists' Gallery in Bozeman.
Get any of our free daily email newsletters — news headlines, opinion, e-edition, obituaries and more.
If you value these stories, please consider subscribing.
Behind the desk at the Artists’ Gallery in the Emerson Center in Bozeman, LeeAnn Galusha grasps the lip of a work in progress — a basket-like piece with bits of negative space formed around a green rock slice with rows of synthetic sinew stitches curving gracefully up its sides and an inverted triangle of glass beads reaching down. Her hands work quickly, stitching around a rope made of caramel-colored pine needles, then reaching for more and repeating the process.
Galusha has tried many art forms. During the pandemic lockdowns, she turned to glass, which she said makes her happy, and created mosaics of glass on rocks.
“I pick up a lot of things and do them, like needlework when I was younger,” Galusha said. “Anything that came along I wanted to do it.”
Basket-weaving with pine needles, however, is her true passion.
“I was always interested in it,” Galusha said, recalling an article about the art in AARP Magazine she read at 12. Gaulsha wouldn’t get her hands on a basket until 1989, when she took a class in Bend, Oregon. She often tells people the work “felt right.” Her hands seemed to possess an innate understanding of the process.
“When I found the pine needle baskets, that was it,” Galusha said. “That was what I was going to do.”
Galusha grew up in Illinois, learning to love the natural world from her outdoorsman father. After high school, she worked and lived in Yellowstone for almost two decades. Galusha met her husband in Yellowstone, and the pair went north to the University of Montana to earn teaching degrees, then farther north to Alaska where they taught at a small school on Evan’s Island in Prince William Sound.
Now retired, Galusha and her husband moved back to Bozeman in 2014, where she can focus on creating.
“It’s nice to have the freedom and time to do this,” Galusha said.
In her home studio, a shelf of dyed needles is within arms reach as she works. Galusha has a travel case, with small bundles of of needles and room for decorative pieces and other supplies. If that’s too much, her husband said she tucks supplies in a gallon plastic bag that can fit in her purse.
Galusha uses two types of pine needles in her work, both nearly a foot long and selected because they retain flexibility. Needles from the long-leaf pine, a species native to the southeast, turn a deep caramel as they dry. Galusha also collects needles from the Apache pine in southern Arizona. As they dry, the Apache pine needles fade into a greenish-tan, allowing Galusha to dye them in a rainbow of colors for her work. Locally, Ponderosa pine needles work for weaving, but they must be soaked to make them more pliable.
“Soaking is an art in itself,” Galusha said, explaining there is a fine line between pliable enough to work with and wet enough to mold.
While not necessary for weaving, Galusha begins each work with what she calls a “center.”
“It can be anything I want,” she said, pulling walnut shells sliced by her father-in-law and pottery pieces made by her sister from a travel case. The center informs the work, with Galusha taking inspiration for color and form from the heart of the piece.
She binds the needles with artificial sinew or waxed Irish linen thread that slides easily along the between them. While moving a sewing needle back and forth to secure the needle coils may not be entertaining to onlookers, and the evenly spaced stitches and intricate patterns maintain incredible consistency, the art is more varied than it seems.
“Every stitch isn’t really the same,” she said. “I think about every stitch. You want to make sure the needle is laid a certain way, make sure it’s still curving up, not going flat.”
Most of the pieces on display in the Artists’ Gallerty are small, under 8 inches in diameter. Galusha said she once made a large basket and later pulled it out of her studio closet, but it was mainly to prove that such a thing was possible. After a certain point, she said the size made its creation feel repetitive.
Galusha said her work now is more art than function.
“I’m always thinking about new ways, new things, new designs,” she said. “I don’t want to get stagnant with it.”
One piece, with swirling sections emanating from two beads at the center recalls a contra dance.
“I think it’s truly different and truly beautiful,” said Anne Danahy, an artist who stopped by the gallery to drop off a painting. “It’s unique… People are fascinated by it.”
Galusha estimates that she has created thousands over the years, each cataloged in a series of binders. While some remain in her collection, Galusha said letting them go has gotten easier over the years, especially when she thinks about where they may have found a home.
“To be able to bring art and maybe some happiness and joy to people, I think it’s great,” Galusha said. “To think that my art is in somebody’s home and they look at it and they might smile or something, that makes me feel really good. That sounds so corny and sappy, but it’s true.”
Galusha shows her work at the Artists’ Gallery, where she will be a featured artist during the Sept. 9 Art Walk, and at 10 Gallery in Livingston. She has a Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/pineneedlebasketsbyLAG/, but closed her Etsy shop because she wants people to interact with the pieces.
“Most people haven’t encountered (pine-needle weaving) before,” Galusha said. “Smell it. Touch it. Realize that it’s solid, that it’s not flimsy at all. It’s going to stick around for a long time. The quality of work in it makes a difference.”
Get any of our free daily email newsletters — news headlines, opinion, e-edition, obituaries and more.
Rachel Hergett is the arts and entertainment editor. She can be reached at rhergett@dailychronicle.com or 582-2603. Follow her on Twitter @hergett.
The last summer Art Walk is Friday, Sept. 9, from 6 to 8 p.m. in downtown Bozeman. For more information, visit downtownbozeman.org/summer-art-walks-2022.
Rachel Hergett can be reached at rhergett@dailychronicle.com or at 406-582-2603. Hergett is on Twitter at @hergett.
Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.
Introductory offer for new subscribers only. Get full access to the Bozeman Daily Chronicle's award-winning news and sports coverage, as well as arts and entertainment, opinions and more. Subscribe today!
Search the complete digital archives for all papers in the Pioneer News Group.
Your account has been registered, and you are now logged in.
Check your email for details.
Invalid password or account does not exist
Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password.
An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the e-mail address listed on your account.
Your purchase was successful, and you are now logged in.
A receipt was sent to your email.