[photo credit: The Gamble House]
Maea, a first-generation Samoan Mexican American artist born in Long Beach in 1988, forages palm fronds from across Los Angeles — from the banks of the L.A. River to Echo Park to Long Beach — and weaves them into sculptures and baskets using techniques drawn from her Samoan heritage. Her work has been exhibited at the Hammer Museum’s 2023 Made in LA biennial, the Orange County Museum of Art, the Palm Springs Art Museum, and Charlie James Gallery in Los Angeles. At the Gamble House, she will teach the fundamentals of palm frond weaving in a setting designed by architects Charles and Henry Greene, whose 1908 home is a National Historic Landmark and what the Gamble House Conservancy calls the most complete and original example of their work.
The workshop takes place during the Gamble House’s current exhibition, “From Strand to Sculpture: Contemporary Japanese Basketry,” which runs through April 12 and features bamboo art on loan from the collections of Carl and Marilynn Thoma and the Thoma Foundation in Dallas. The exhibition is the fourth contemporary art overlay presented at the Gamble House in the past 12 years, according to the Rafu Shimpo.
The Gamble House’s ticketing page for the workshop directs attendees to visit the Japanese basketry exhibition for “additional basket inspiration.” Both the workshop and the exhibition involve basketry traditions — one Japanese bamboo, the other Los Angeles palm fronds — inside a home whose architects drew from Japanese art and design.
“The Greenes had a deep appreciation of material and craftsmanship from Japan,” Jennifer Trotoux, the Gamble House’s director of Collections and Interpretation, said in an interview with the Pasadena Weekly about the exhibition.
Maea began weaving palm fronds during the pandemic, teaching herself techniques rooted in Polynesian tradition, according to a review in Artforum. The palm became central to her practice. In Los Angeles, the palm tree is a nonnative species that, according to the Hammer Museum, speaks to the resilience of those forced to uproot their lives — a resonance Maea has explored in her sculptures.
“Plants have a body, we mimic it. It mimics us,” Maea said in an interview published by The Women’s Studio. “I’ll use corn as a spine and people recognize it because we are mirrors of nature.”
Her sculptures, which she calls “future ancestors,” incorporate concrete, rebar, found objects, and woven palm fronds. Many contain seed pods that will crumble over time, leaving only the viable seed behind — a deliberate design, according to her Gamble House artist biography, that makes the artworks multi-generational.
The workshop is open to participants ages 16 and older. No experience is required, and all materials are provided. Tickets are $40 for Gamble House members and $45 for non-members, available through the Gamble House website at gamblehouse.org/events. The Gamble House is at 4 Westmoreland Place, Pasadena. Free parking is available on Westmoreland Place, with additional parking on Orange Grove Boulevard and West Walnut Street.
“We’re excited to have an exhibition in the Gamble House again,” Trotoux told the Pasadena Weekly. The Gamble House’s next scheduled exhibition-related event after the workshop is a focus tour on April 11.
WEAVING WORKSHOP: PALM FROND BASKETRY (GAMBLE HOUSE) Date & Time: Saturday, March 28, 2026 (three-hour workshop). Venue: The Gamble House, 4 Westmoreland Place, Pasadena, CA 91103. Phone Number: 626-793-3334. Website: https://gamblehouse.org/events/
