Please join the Slofemist actions at the Dunlop Art Gallery!
Sunday Sept 29, La Nuit Blanche 4:00pm-8:00pm
Dunlop Art Gallery, Central Branch
Journeying home to the prairies is a way for the Slofemists to be reaquainted with plants—some of them wild and indigenous, others feral and introduced. The diversity of species in ditches is surprising. Roads carry people, but also seeds, spores, and pollinators. The road is “famished”, to use Ben Okri’s term, in its demands to carry our stories and to hold traces of us including the seeds and garbage we have left behind.
We invite you to drop in and join us in adding stitches to a “Famished Road Ecology” fabric panel during La Nuit Blanche.
The stitched panels will become part of “25 Million Stitches” by artist Jennifer KimSohn (https://www.jenniferkimsohn.com/25-million-stitches). In 2020 KimSohn aims to display 25 million stitches to represent refugees around the world. She estimates that it will take about 2000 of panels this size to represent that number. According to the UNHCR (2016 statistics) there are over 70 million forcibly displaced people, of which 25 million refugees are a part. By encouraging people to fill these panels with stitches, Jennifer KimSohn hopes that people will take time to consider the magnitude of displacement and what we can do to support people who are forced to migrate along the famished road.
You’re invited join the Slofemists for additional drop-ins at the Dunlop:
Monday Sept 30 7:00pm-12:00am, Oct 1, noon to 4 pm Dunlop Art Gallery, Central Branch, Oct 2, 4 pm to 8 pm Dunlop Art Gallery, Central Branch Library, Regina
The Slofemist Action: Menditations and “Famished Road Ecology” Banner
The Slofemists will lead groups of participants in a guided ‘menditation' on the healing properties of native prairie plants. (8-10 minutes) This menditation is created to help people overcome plant and insect blindness, an affliction that is causing us to lose our connection to the healing power of plants, and the essential roles they play in our lives.
You are also invited to add stitches to our “Famished Road Ecology” banner.
You’re invited to a bee talk!!!
Keep them Buzzing: Smart Gardening for Native Bees
It’s more important than ever to get smarter about what we plant to provide native bees with food and nesting material. Lori will share some top tips for growing hardy plants that support several species of bees in your garden. She will show examples of garden projects that will inspire you to create your own oasis for our essential pollinators. Lori will also have copies of her book for sale for $25 each.
Lori Weidenhammer, aka Madame Beespeaker, is a performance-based interdisciplinary artist and educator living in Vancouver, British Columbia. She is originally from a tiny hamlet called Cactus Lake, Saskatchewan. It is in this place, bordered by wheat fields and wild prairie, that she first became enchanted with bees. She is the author of an award-winning book called Victory Gardens for Bees: A DIY Guide to Saving the Bees published by Douglas and MacIntyre. Lori works with students of all ages on eating locally and gardening for pollinators. On occasion, she likes to dress up in silly costumes and talk to bees.
