A Stich and Time: The Slofemists at the Dunlop Art Gallery

The Slofemists (Lois Klassen and I) were honoured to be invited to Regina as artists in the Stitch and Time exhibition and related programming at the Dunlop Art Gallery curated by Blair Fornwald and Wendy Peart. We showed work from our collection and created new work with drop-in community sewing sessions at the gallery.

During Nuit Blanche people were invited to stitch with us and sit at the "Menditation Station" where they could write their intentions to mend something broken in their lives and steps to take to fix it.

These  menditation masks you see in the photo above are created using cyanotype on fabric I made with plants. They're filled with lavender, wheat berries, and buckwheat. You can wear them to block out the light when you're relaxing and you can put them in the fridge and apply cold whe you have a headache. The leaves used in the cyanotype above have been altered by leafcutter bees that cut holes out of plants to use as nesting material. Lois and I took a walk near Waskana Park and found some leaves that had been used by local leafcutter bees.

We also saw some great signage on leafcutter bees in the Native Plant Garden at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum.

I was very touched by our interactions and conversations with folks who dropped in to stitch alongside us. In particular, the person who created the embroidery below had never done anything like this before. Amazing! Stitching is a simply hands on activity which focuses the mind and calms the heart. It allows us to create a space with a gentle spirit where connectivity can flourish.

It was great to connect with new and old friends as we stitched the pattern Lois created on unbleached muslin panels.  Lois writes: "Famished Road Ecology (for 25 Million Refugees) is a new embroidery pattern that the Slofemists designed especially for Nuit Blanche Regina 2019. The stitches laid down onto unbleached cotton panels will be added to Jennifer Kim Sohn's 25 Million Stitches--a project that is working to realize the quantity of refugees listed by UNHCR in 2016." 

Luckily, the gallery is in the main branch of the Regina Public Library, so I was able to find books on native prairie plants and books on embroidery which we could use to create patterns that represent flowers growing in the ditches on the sides of prairie roads. These are the plants I reunited with this summer as we brought my father's ashes home to rest.

As we stitched, we listened to the haunting sound track from Mindy Yan Miller and Susan Miller's piece Needle and Thread. It is a meditative soundscape dedicated to victims of the Holocaust with recited names, singing and birdsong. We were also stitching alongside another piece by Heather Majuary and Terre Chartrand called Neighbours: A Community Quilting Project which is a Truth and Reconciliation project. It struck me that people who are displaced are often separated from the plants of their homeland. Many of the weeds we see in ditches are medicinal plants that immigrants bring with them to help heal the trauma of displacement.

It seems it is the time of year to remember the people who have been displaced, traumatized, missing, murdered, or simply lost. Lois and I went to the thrift store to find orange shirts to wear on the day when children who were forced to attended residential schools are remembered.  I watch a newscast where a red banner inscribed with the names if children who died in the schools in unfurled. Its length fills me with sadness. From September 11th to All Soul's Day, to Remembrance Day on November 11, we pay respect to collective trauma and loss. We also take small quiet steps to repair the damage in our social fabric.

And some of those steps are exploring a connection with the nature outside the gallery. Lois and I take a walk through the green heart of the city. We discover a double crested cormorant resting on a branch.

We were also inspired by the signage and the foliage and the native plant garden installed at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum.

We were lucky to be able to travel around the city and be inspired by the art on display in the galleries. I was particularly charmed by this piece by Bill Burns called "Bird Radio and the Eames Chair Lounge"  at the Mackenzie Art Gallery.

Special thanks to all the folks who made our contribution to A Stitch and Time possible!

The Slofemists are Coming to Regina!!!!!

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.

Cyanotype 'Slofemist Menditation Masks' filled with lavender and buckwheat


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.

Slofemists At Moberly: Consensual Textile Workers

Here's a sneak peak of what the Vancouver chapter of the Slofemists is up to. This is a slofemist cover, soon to be part of an installation by Margaret Dragu at the Kamloops Art Gallery.

As we knot it and frame it with a protective border of blanket stitching we can't help thinking about the other invisible textile workers assigned to embroidering the original linen fabric.

How strange it is, to be in a privileged position where sewing is a relaxing hobby, an art, and a way to enjoy the company of other empowered feminists. All this occurs in an environment where a cross-pollination of creative and critical discussion can take place.

Next up we have a collection of sketches on fabric from the archives of Margaret Dragu. These are being stitched together into a panel for the exhibition.

 We, knot, stitch, and sew by machine. We talk about the issues of the day and whatever's on our minds.

Then it's potluck lunch time! The first day was all about simple and delicious sandwiches made especially good with Lexie's homemade pear chutney. The second day we made sushi cones with ingredients from the garden at Moberly wrangled away from the busy bees.

The shiso leaves were so large, I even made a cone with shiso leaves instead of nori.

Lois made awesome sushi rice with dashi broth.

We had sardines, tofu, and avocado to stuff in the rolls. They were super delicious.

On the third day we finished the slofa cover!

We started working on  some cushions.

And for lunch we made soup with beans from the Mayan gardeners at UBC, farro and lentils from Grain, and dried smoked corn Lois rbought back from Santa Fe, along with a giant dried chili pepper.

So there you have it! The Slofemists move upward and onward, slowly and surely. Thanks to everyone who came out and became a part of our collective herstor(ies).