Hello!  I am Mara Cur, the curator of this project.  

I am an islander on the west coast, living off-grid in an alder grove in my self-built cedar cabin. I am a hunter, wild-crafter, hide tanner, and herbalist.

I created Crow’s Nest as a venue to share my crafts and skillset, to help bring people into the wilds, to cultivate a sense of remembrance and belonging.

I’m a mixed settler based on northern Salish Nation territory on Cortes Island, a place shared by the Klahoose, Homalco, and Tla-amin bands. I spend hunting season collecting hides in the Rockies, on Shoshone territory.

This work is artisanal – not traditional. I do not operate within an intact lineage of my own to call it traditional. I learn with both settler and Indigenous teachers who have shared their knowledge with me. I refrain from using methods and aesthetics that carry cultural appropriation or theft of Indigenous teachings.   I am always learning.

Backwoods skills are intrinsic to human culture –  hide tanning, bowmaking, friction fire, basketry – but as mediums of community connection, they carry specific sanctity within specific cultures. And so, I look to my own ancestry for guidance and meaning, rather than to Indigenous cultures. I strive to use this project as a tool towards decolonizing all my relationships: to people, to culture, and to place.