We’re having a show! September 17-29 at the Roundhouse, in Vancouver. There will be images, objects and artefacts from the work unfolding primarily in Means of Production Garden and Trillium North, where crops are grown for basketry, cloth, dye, tool making and musical instruments; as well as workshops and interactive events throughout the course of the exhibition. Our lines of inquiry range from growing flax for linen and plants for collective dye pots, to up-purposing fish skins from food industry waste into leather. When we look at what grows in the garden, or at gaps in local industry, we find opportunities to explore traditions of place and the Salish People whose land we stand on; we awaken sleeping knowledge, and discover how making can connect us in shared cultural inquiry.

Here is a sneak peek at what will be going on:

Opening Reception: Thu Sep 20 6-8pm, followed by artists talks 8-9pm  by guest visiting artists June Pardue and Peter Ananin  – no registration required

Community Sewing Circles
Fri Sep 21, Mon Sep 24 2-5pm
Tue Sep 25, Wed Sep 26, Thu Sep 27, 1-4pm
Inspired by lessons from June and Charlie Pardue (Alaska), participants will practice the waterproof stitch technique in sewing salmon leather. No registration required

Interactive Tannery
Sat Sep 22, Tue Sep 25, Wed Sep 26, Thu Sep 27, 1-4pm
Social entrepreneur Peter Ananin (Scotland) supports local practitioners in creating a temporary Interactive Tannery for fish leather based on small-scale tanneries he has created using discarded items.

September 29
Join us for a fantastic and full  final exhibition day at the Roundhouse.  Make new connections for your creative pursuits or to meet your garden’s care needs, watch a Salish weaving demonstration by Tracy Williams, and join various steps in a multi-activity net making event. Bring your lunch, a waterbottle and come ready to learn and engage with others.

Registration is appreciated for Materials to Makers

10-11:30am
Material to Maker Match-Making:
A “speed dating” session for Vancouver urban makers to meet gardeners with plantings and green waste that could be up-purposed for creative use. Are you a maker that could help in a garden and or up-cycle another’s greenwaste? Do you have a garden that produces materials you think might be useful and can give away? Meet others with similar interests and build our city’s fibre shed for creative production! Register here

11am-12:30pm
Salish Weaving Demonstration
Tracy Williams will be weaving some of the wool spun during the Land &  Sea walks onto a cedar warp. There will be an interactive parallel activity for drop in participation.

12.30-4pm
Plants to Net Event: Inspired by ‘sheep to shawl’ events, new skill-holders lead community participants in this challenge to create a one-day-net with nettle stalks and local linen. Pounding and breaking, spinning and thigh-rolling; traditional Coast Salish and European methods and plants used together in a relay of hand work! This event will may spill out of doors, please dress for the weather.

EartHand Gleaners Society is made up of artists, makers and educators who believe that bringing people together to share creative projects that connect us with the land helps our communities become strong, resilient and more just. We connect makers with materials that come directly from the land around them, modelling ‘How to be a Producer without first being a Consumer’. By working with the plants around us using ancestral skills common to all cultures, we inspire participants to discover cultural connections, learn new skills, and discover novel sources of raw materials for creative practices, including garden waste, invasive plants, and textile waste.

This exhibitions has been made possible by funding from BC Arts Council, City of Vancouver Cultural Services, Vancouver Park Board, and Roundhouse Community Centre, with support from Skwachays Lodge, Skipper Otto’s Community Supported Fishery, and community members