EartHand Gleaners Society

art ~ ecology ~ people

  • Natural Dyers’ Cooperative Garden 2018

    March- August, see dates below
    Means of Production Garden/ Trillium North Park
    Max 9
    $275 

    REGISTER for a share in the Natural Dyers’ Cooperative Garden 

    Means of the Production Garden in Mount Pleasant becomes the site for research, work and crop share for a small group of dedicated individuals interested in building community while growing and tending natural dye plants.

    Over six months together we will plant, tend and harvest various plants at MOP for shared use and  equal division. Participants agree to attend a minimum of 10 of the 15 offered work dates as well as the site orientation and to work in a collaborative and cooperative way within the small group. Monthly studio sessions at Trillium North Park allow time for prepping our fibres and cooking up seasonal dye baths. Cost includes an unprocessed  fleece and sample yardage of silk, merino knit and linen for swatches. An incredibly successful program in 2017, more studio sessions and material for dying has been added to this year’s program

    Lead and Host: Sharon Kallis

    Orientation: Sunday March 11 3-5pm

    Work Dates:

    2nd Sundays* April-July  2nd Wednesdays and 3rd Thursdays:  April-August
    Sunday 3-5pm
    Wednesday 6-8pm
    Thursday 6-8pm

    Studio Dye Dates at Trillium North Park from April to August
    April 29, May 27, June 24, July 15, Aug 26

    *May Date is May 6 not 13th

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  • Weavers Research Guild 2018

    7 sessions, Saturdays every 3 weeks* 10am -1pm
    Feb 17, Mar 10, Mar 31, Apr 28, May 19, Jun 9, Jun 30
    Means of Production Garden, 6th @ St.Catherines;
    Trillium North Park, Malkin @ Thornton (Strathcona)
    Max 10
    $250, includes materials & use of tools; personal gloves & secateurs welcome

    REGISTER for the Weavers Research Guild

    Diving deeper into the diversity of plants at Means of Production Garden and Trillium North Park, the EartHand Weavers Guild will act as garden stewards while exploring materials and basketry techniques in an atmosphere of sharing, creative risk-taking, research and direct inquiry into meaningful, seasonal ‘making’ in our place and lives. Our starting point will be the seasonal unfolding of hazel, willow, fruit tree suckers, invasive vines and blackberry canes, and exploring how these can be transformed by splitting, twining, coiling, plaiting, and other techniques. Instructor: Rebecca Graham

     * note there are a few exceptions to date consistency.

    Feb 17 – harvesting willow @ MOP (splitting; rib basket forms)
    Mar 10 – harvesting willow @ Trillium (rib basket forms)
    Mar 31 – studio day @ Trillium (stake and strand with mixed materials)
    April 28 – harvesting bamboo & bark at MOP (diagonal plait if materials permit/ self-directed projects/ combined techniques)
    May 19 – studio day @ Trillium (self-directed projects/combined techniques)
    June 9 – blackberry @ MOP (self-directed projects/combined techniques)
    June 30 – studio day @ Trillium (self-directed projects/combined techniques)

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  • Linen Growers Club 2018 (FULL)

    9 sessions
    First Tuesday of the Month*, from March through September, 6-8pm
    Plus additional retting & processing dates
    First Class March 6 @ Bee Space, 580 Powell St, Vancouver, BC V6A 0A5
    All other sessions @ Trillium North Park, corner of Malkin & Thornton, Vancouver
    Max 15
    $220
    (2nd Tuesday in April, 10th)

    This program is now Full, thank you for your interest!

    EartHand Gleaners Society is offering this popular program again!

    Do you have an interest in gardening and textiles? This program is a chance to grow your own small flax crop for linen, learn how to spin with a drop spindle, have support through the process and share results with others in the group.

    Meeting once a month, we’ll cover spinning, soil preparation, sowing, weeding, harvest, and how to process the flax straw into linen. Flax for linen is an easy-to-grow crop requiring full sun and 100 days from seed to harvest.  Soil, water, light, microclimate and processing all affect the quality and feel of the resulting linen. First four sessions include seasonal instructions for month ahead and spinning time. The final three sessions take participants through the process of harvest, retting, rippling, breaking, scutching and hackling.

    Cost includes seeds, a drop spindle, local linen fibre and Taproot Nova Scotia’s fibre for workshop spinning and access to equipment at processing times.

    Seeds provided for a plot size up to 16 ft sq per person.

    A final open studio day allows additional processing time at the end of season.

    Retting Test Day Saturday Aug 11, 10-11am: come and see where our linen ret is at to know the look, feel and smell of flax when it is done retting.

    Additional  processing day: Saturday 8 September 12-5pm

    Location: Trillium North Park– corner of Malkin and Thornton Street, Vancouver

    About the Instructors
    Rebecca Graham and Sharon Kallis have been growing linen in small Vancouver plots or larger out-of-city places since 2013, and have lots to share about growing a successful fibre crop. This is the second year they have offered a grow-along workshop and participants will have the opportunity to learn with each other in this friendly and supportive club.

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    March 6: History & lore of flax for linen, overview of the growing & preparation process, introduction to terms, introduction to spinning with drop spindle using TapRoot Farms’ prepared tow sliver

    April 10: Choosing a planting spot, soil preparation, soil temperature, planting methods, germination; group planting the flax bed at Trillium; continuation of drop spindle

    May 1: Weeding and maintenance; continuation of drop spindle

    June 5: Irrigation, troubleshooting; continuation of drop spindle

    July 3: When and How to harvest (possibly harvesting Trillium flax); how to dry, ripple and store (possibly rippling Trillium crop)

    Aug 7: How to Ret — retting the Trillium flax crop.
    Bring your flax for rippling and/or retting in the group
    Aug 11: 10-11am Retting test day: see, touch, smell the retting process close to completion

    Sept 4: Processing flax straw into linen – break, scutch, hackle. Bring your retted flax straw.
    Sept 9: 12-4pm Additional processing day

  • Summer Open Studio Sessions

    Open Studio at Trillium North Park

    These free drop in studio sessions are a chance to get to know others in the EartHand community, use EartHand’s equipment and practice skills with others! Please come prepared to work on your own project, technical advice and assistance is available but note these sessions are not classes.

    Fridays with Sharon 6-9pm : June 22, 29, July 6 and 13

    Mondays with Rebecca 6-9pm: August 6, 13, 20, 27

    Please note: these are outdoor sessions under cover- dress for the weather, snacks or picnic dinners encouraged

     

  • Spinners Walking Club: Seawall & Shoreline 2018

    There are two walking clubs 2018, one in Vancouver and one in West Vancouver. West Van Club is organized through the Ferry Building Gallery

    VANCOUVER: 4 Sessions*, Wednesdays 6:30-8:30pm

    Speakers for series coordinated by Kamala Todd
    June 27 – Trillium North Park practice session- no registrations required
     July 4 –  with Sinaqwila Wyss  Coal Harbour area, register here

    Senaqwila Wyss is from the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish Nation), Tsimshian, Sto:lo, Hawaiian and Swiss. She has a  Bachelors in Communications and First Nations studies from SFU. She is an ethnobotanist and warrior entrepreneur. She co-owns Raven and Hummingbird Tea Co. with her mother, traditionally trained ethnobotanist T’uy’t’tanat Cease Wyss using Indigenous plant teachings to share with people of all ages. Senaqwila is also sharing her knowledge to the next generation with daughter Kamaya. She is a learner of the Squamish language in effort for young daughter to become a fluent speaker. Senaqwila facilitates Indigenous plant knowledge workshops, has experience in professional communications in addition to coordination and event planning.

    Aug 15 – with Miss Christie Lee Vanier Point area, register here

    Christie Charles a.k.a “Miss Christie Lee” of Musqueam, with lineage from Tsleil-waututh and Squamish nations, is an artists who expresses her gifts in many forms. Growing up in a world of music her focus has been hip hop, namely raps, where she as an emcee incorporates her traditional knowledge, stories and ancient Musqueam dialect. She is a story teller, coastal hand drum singer, filmmaker and a speaker for her ancestors. Her goal is to empower and reconnect spirits to who we truly are as first peoples of the lands. Christie is was recently appointed as the City of Vancouver’s first Indigenous Poet Laureate.
    Aug 22 – Tina Brooks, Crab Park area: information coming soon
    Registrants will be sent an email with exact meeting location 3 days  before event, and asked to follow up if they want a spinning/walking kit or rope-making/walking kit for the session.

    * note video documentation will be happening on walks.

    These 4 free walking sessions are opportunities to come together as a group of drop spinners and practice the communal meditation of walking and spinning, listening and talking. Each week, up to 2km of the seawall will be explored and mapped both by our feet and the lengths of spun yarn we produce. Recording the collective number of meters (or fathoms) of spun line will be an interesting metric to measure against the walked distance. How much can we spin on average when our feet are in the water walking the shore line versus on a seawall path?  With 2 hours allotted to listen to stories shared, walk and spin or twist, then stop and listen again.  We will skein and measure our meters of line from our drop spindles at the end of each session. A way to practice our walking/spinning skills, while getting to know local areas in a slowed down more intimate way- and devising quirky ways of measuring  production and distance…. spun line by the fathom.

    Vancouver: Bring your own drop spindle and fibre, or spin fibre for EartHand projects. Drop spindle and  rope making fibre kits available for those who sign up for an eventbrite spot.( coming soon)

    Not a spinner but want to participate? Meet 15 minutes early and learn how to make cordage on the journey, and assist with measuring, making music, telling stories and more.

    WEST VANCOUVER: 5 Sessions + Community Celebration
    Walking Sessions each day, Monday July 30 – Friday Aug 3, 6:30-8:30pm; $8/session or $25 for set. Traveling fibre kits for use included in registration.
    and Community Celebration Thursday Aug 9, 6-9pm
    Locations to meet TBA
    More information and registration on the Ferry Building website,
    https://ferrybuildinggallery.com/programs_events/seaside_shoreline_spinners_walking_club

    A part of the Land & Sea Project.

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  • FORAGE: Seasonal Fibre Series 2018

    6 Sessions, Saturday, once a month from March-August  2018 10am-2pm
    Max 15
    Free, Registration Required
    Tickets released 4 weeks before event date
     PLEASE have respect for others, do not sign up for a program and not show up

    Six opportunities for gathering, learning, and making in tune with the land. Each session will be a profile of a different local fibre, including how to harvest and prepare it, and ways to work with it. We’ll explore different traditional hand skills that are the foundation of many weaving techniques.

    Sponsored by Vancouver Park Board: Arts Culture and Engagement Dept.

    Locations: Trillium North Park ( corner of Malkin and Thornton St), Means of Production Garden ( corner of E. 6th and St Catherines)

    MAR 17 : branch splitting and fence weaving at MOP

    APRIL 28: bark stripping and fence weaving at TRILLIUM

    MAY 19: wool introduction and drop spindling clinic at TRILLIUM

    JUNE 16: blackberry and vines for braiding at MOP

    JULY 14: straw, grasses and coil basketry methods at MOP, then traveling to Trillium North

    AUG 18: flax processing at TRILLIUM

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  • 2018 Stewardship Sessions

    Sessions are led by Jaymie Johnson and are drop in opportunities to become familiar with the crops growing at both Trillium North and Means of Production Garden. Time is spent primarily on seasonal  stewardship tasks from planting, harvesting and weeding with fun diversions into the studio potential that the various crops offer. Some dates overlap with other programs, creating opportunity for collaborations and show and tell of what is happening in the gardens! Jaymie  is a young artist with an education in both Permaculture and Fine Arts and has been working with Cameron Cartiere (BorderFree Bees) and Sharon Kallis in developing her own community engaged practice that brings these two worlds together.

    Usually the second Saturday from 10-1pm and  2-5pm the third Sunday of each month- locations rotate.

    Free, with limited space. Pre-registration through Eventbrite will open 4 weeks prior to program.

    Apr 14 @ Trillium
    Apr 15 @ MOP

     

     

  • Natural Pigments 2018

    1 session, Saturday  May 26 10am-4pm
    Trillium North Park
    $93

    REGISTER for Natural Pigments with Catherine Shapiro  Sorry, FULL!

    Registration/cancellation closes May 12 on this class

    Local artist and gardener Catherine Shapiro has been growing and researching pigments for making her own  paints for several years as part of her creative practice. The morning is primarily an introduction and overview of Catherine’s samples and discoveries. The afternoon is studio time to process a pigment and explore egg tempera, oil-based and watercolour pigments on paper, as well as soy-based paints for fabric. Pigments to be explored include cochineal, indigo, turmeric, blackberry, soil and other  mineral pigments.  A great introduction to set you on your own track for  future explorations and personal studio work. Bring a lunch, notebook and dress for being outdoors under cover.  

    Please note: Due to the labour and cost intensive work required of Catherine to prepare for this class, registration and cancellation closes on May 12

    Includes all materials.

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  • Trillium Community Dyers Club 2018

    8 sessions 2018:
    Sundays 2-5.30pm   April 8, May 13, June 10, July  8, Aug 12, Sept 9
    Tuesdays 6-9pm  June 26, July 31
    $75 

     REGISTER for the Trillium Community Dyers Club 

    This new monthly program is a chance for community members to dip toes into the world of the natural dye pot. Led by Nicola Hodges, the group will collaborate to harvest and steward some of the dye plants that grow at Trillium North Park, and collectively make small dyed sculptural installations to dot the landscape, daylighting for other park users the colours found in plants that grow all around us.

    This group includes 6 registered spaces for the entire program, and 4 free drop in spaces sponsored by Vancouver Park Board Neighbourhood Matching Program for people who  can’t commit to a full program but would like to step in occasionally and participate (these tickets released through Eventbrite 2 weeks before workshops date).

    Dyes include snowberry, lupin, St John’s wort, and other flowers, barks and roots that grow at Trillium.

    Note this program is not focused on dying materials for personal use, but dying fibre for collaborative site specific installations.

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    Instructor Profile:

    Through a passion for knitting and textile crafts, Nicola Hodges explores daily hand making and the possibilities of adornment in the practical everyday as a way to reopen the connection to personal traditions, natural materials and the land. It’s a fascination with fiber and all the ways we twist and form it into our everyday lives that have led Nicola to explore everything from knitting, spinning, ropemaking and knot-tying to raising sheep and growing the plants to dye these important textile parts of our lives.
    Nicola is a young community-engaged artist whose mentors have included Sharon Kallis, Rebecca Graham, Anna Hunter and Carla Bergman.  In 2012 she traveled to Oaxaca, Mexico, to study traditional natural dyeing and tapete weaving with the Vida Nueva Cooperativa, associated with Universidad de la Tierra; and in 2015 she lived in Scotland, working on sheep farms and studying textile histories around the country, particularly the islands of Shetland, Orkney, and the Inner and Outer Hebrides.

    Nicola now works at Maiwa Handprints as well as teaching knitting, spinning, ropework and natural dyeing with EartHand  and different yarn stores around Vancouver.  She has studied natural dyeing with the Maiwa School of Textiles, learning from Charllotte and Sophena Kwon, Danielle Bush and Ann Harmer. In 2017 she led open studio workshops over the summer at EartHand’s Trillium studio working with members of the community, teaching rope making and dyeing with materials from the garden as well as working out of the Weaving Wagon at the 150+ festival teaching the public rope making and spinning with phormium tenax and wool.

     

  • Drum Making with Delmar Williams

    1 session: 2018 Saturday July 7th 9am-4pm
    Trillium North Park, Malkin @ Thornton, Vancouver
    Max 8
    $215

    REGISTER for Drum Making with Delmar Williams 

    Registration and cancellation for this class closes on June 23.

    Traditional materials of elk hide, real sinew, and old growth cedar come together under the guidance of instructor Delmar Williams to make a tunable drum with a resonant sound, unlike drums made with inferior materials or store bought products.

    Working with frames carefully made by Delmar, a full day session takes the group through the process of preparing, cutting, and stretching the hide, so everyone leaves with a completed 17” drum. The class is not physically demanding and offers a pattern of rest built into the day. Bring your own lunch; materials and tools provided. A small class size allows lots of individual attention from Delmar as required.

    Please note: Due to the labour and cost intensive work required of Delmar to prepare for this class registration and cancellation closes on June 23rd

    Instructor Profile

    Delmar Williams is from the Squamish and Lil’wat Nation. He has grown up within his community and with elders who still speak their traditional language and sing traditional songs. As a child, his family would fish the Fraser River every year to sustain themselves through the year. He carries the ancestral name of Banksht from his mother’s family and the name Xwepilkinem (his father’s ancestral name) which refers to the man who slayed the two headed sea serpent. He continues to learn and grow his knowledge around ancient technologies and ways of knowing.

    Delmar is a Big Game Hunt Guide in northern British Columbia and has worked with Outward Bound Canada as a professional guide for several years. Most recently, he has taught with the Seymour Longhouse program where instructors teach fire, cooking with fire, building tri-pods; making slahal sets (traditional native gambling game); hide tanning; basketry; and plant gathering. In the North Vancouver School District #44 he teaches high school students about wilderness survival, fire by friction, and ancient technology.