SEQUIM — Magdalena Bassett grows herbs on her Blue Moon Lavender farm, makes salves and culinary blends, teaches people to cook from scratch and designs celebrations of the Olympic Peninsula.
Her latest design release, From the Air: Olympic Peninsula, with photography by pilot Dave Woodcock and essays by Tim McNulty — both of Sequim — is 160 pages of aerial views of this region’s mountain peaks, rivers and wilderness coastlines.
“The biggest challenge was to help David narrow down his vast selection of fabulous images,” Bassett said.
“I really wanted to produce a great book for him . . . a visually elegant and approachable book.”
Woodcock, for his part, is plain exhilarated by the result. With McNulty, Bassett and Sequim-based agent Sandy Frankfurth distributing From the Air at shops across the Olympic Peninsula, “I couldn’t ask for a better team,” he said.
Working on another book
Now Bassett and her husband, D.J., a photographer and teacher, are working on another book.
It’s the story of Fort Casey, now a state park in Coupeville, by historian Terry Buchanan. D.J. is restoring old photographs Buchanan has collected, while Bassett is designing and preparing the book for printing.
The Bassetts also collaborated on Women to Reckon With: Untamed Women of the Olympic Peninsula by Gary Peterson and Glynda Peterson Schaad, and the revised edition of Gods and Goblins: Place Names of Olympic National Park by Smitty Parratt.
“We love to design books,” Bassett said.
When she and her husband work together, they get to discover local history and people, and learn about their dreams and adventures.
“What a great job to share,” she said.
Bassett was born in Poland, and emigrated to the United States at age 20 in 1974. She worked as a graphic designer in New York City, then moved to Wyoming to give her sons a healthier environment in which to grow up.
She met D.J. in Jackson Hole; they were married in 1996 and moved to Santa Barbara, Calif., “to thaw out,” as D.J. puts it.
Lavender drew them to Sequim, and Bassett has since written and published a lavender cookbook, which she sells along with a line of lavender products at www.BlueMoonLavender.com.
“Good food is my passion,” Bassett said.
So she’s teaching three workshops this spring quarter at Peninsula College: one on tamales, one titled “Chocolate Fancy,” and another on the pierogi, a classic Polish food.
“I also teach workshops in private kitchens, for fundraising or just for fun,” she added.
D.J. will teach courses through Peninsula College during the quarter starting April 1.
His are in digital and nature photography; he also leads three-hour “photo Saturday” field trips to locations around Sequim and beyond.
For information about these and other courses, phone 360-417-6340 or visit www.pc.ctc.edu.
To reach the Bassetts, phone 360-683-8406 or e-mail magda@bassettstudio.com.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at diane.urbani@ peninsuladailynews.com.
