EartHand Gleaners Society

art ~ ecology ~ people

  • Weaving Wagon Introduction

    The Weaving Wagon will be EartHand’s  pop-up studio and pick up truck, a hybrid of cutting-edge bicycle-based transport and traditional woven willow carts. Geoff Hibbard, with an engineering education and co-founder of Shift Delivery, is designing the chassis;  Alastair Heseltine will be overseeing our weaving of the body; and Martin Borden will be documenting the process on film.

    Riding a bike during rush hour at the end of July in beach season, riding past Kits beach, riding faster than the cars are moving. My bike is loaded down with large armfuls of green, freshly harvested flax that will be turned into linen. Imagine how the mini field of green in my view contrast strongly with the street sounds, glaring reflections off metal surfaces and the smell of car exhaust through which I rode.

    In that moment in 2013 I was a bucolic agricultural vision juxtaposed against the dense urban environment. The effect galvanized others; people stopped in the midst of crossing the road or rolled down windows at red lights to ask, to talk. What was I carrying? And on a bike! And then the conversation, linen?  Linen is a plant?

    It was after this particular commute from a project that I realized that my commute is not just a mundane pragmatic choice but a social interaction, an unfolding performance that plays a role in breaking down the country/city schism that Le Corbusier outlined so rigidly in his idealist city planning models and that we now try and escape through community gardens and the urban food-growing movement. And, if breaking down stereotypes of country and city, why not blend medieval travel methods like a woven ox cart with urban green delivery technology?

    How can I extend and repeat the performative, social interaction of that bike ride, a daily commute carrying local agricultural crops- so people keep stopping to talk at lights and when I park?

    The Weaving Wagon has to be jaw-dropping in scope. Visual splendour that is theatre, the backdrop and the costume to its own performance of movement on wheels, it also has to be extremely high functioning to serve the purpose of travel down city streets attached to an electric bike.

  • FORAGE: A Seasonal Fibre Series 2017

    Second Saturday of the Month, March through October 2017

    Eight 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.

    Offered in partnership with Stanley Park Ecology Society and Environmental Youth Alliance.

    MARCH: ivy/split @ Stanley Park

    APRIL: flag iris/twine @ Stanley Park

    MAY: wool/spin @ Trillium North Park
    ** UPDATE! 10am-12pm will be washing raw wool fleece, fibre prep & spinning for people with tickets (get tickets at the link below!)
    12 noon til 3 we’ll be joined by fluffy neighbourhood dogs and other urban animal fibres for an urban fibre shed Spinneree!

    JUNE: blackberry/braid @ Stanley Park

    JULY: straw/coil @ Trillium North Park

    AUGUST: flax/break @ Trillium North Park

    SEPTEMBER: nettle/knot@Trillium North Park

    OCTOBER: daylily/twist @ Means of Production Garden

    FREE monthly program, but pre-registration required, tickets released 6 weeks before program date.

    Register on EVENTBRITE

    PLEASE have respect for others, do not sign up for a program and not show up.

  • Natural Dyers’ Co-operative Garden

    For 2017 the top area of Means of the Production Garden in Mount Pleasant will be a work and crop share for a small group of dedicated individuals interested in building community while growing and tending natural dye plants.

    Over 5 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.   Two studio sessions for shared dye baths and a shared fleece are included.

    Plants on site or to be planted: eucalyptus, madder, hollyhock, marigold, coreopsis, woad, comfrey, nettle, elderberry, willow leaves and oregon grape bark and berries.

    Lead and Host: Sharon Kallis

    $150 share purchase -SOLD OUT!

    Orientation: Sunday March 12 3-5pm

    WorkDates: Must commit to attend at least 10 of 15

    2nd Sundays. 1st Wednesdays. 3rd Thursdays  April-August

    Sunday 3-5pm : Apr 9, May 14, Jun 11, Jul 9, Aug 13

    Wednesday 6-8pm: Apr 5, May 3, Jun 7, Jul 5, Aug 2

    Thursday 6-8pm: Apr 20, May 18, Jun 20, Aug 17

    Studio Dye Dates at Trillium North Park

    July 6 6-9pm

    August 20 12-5pm

    The 6 shares  available in 2017 are all sold. This is a pilot project and we hope to offer it again, with possibly more space, in 2018.

  • February Hide Tanning Circle

    Accepting and using animal hides, bone and other parts is a keystone of ancestral life ways from all over the world. EartHand Gleaners Society is mainly ‘vegetarian’ in our materials, but as we move deeper into our relationship with the land, ancestral skills, and with First Nations, we recognize the importance of knowing more about working with these gifts from the animal kingdom.

    We invite you to join us at Trillium North Park for a day of learning and sharing about hide tanning. We’ll have the benefit of an experienced tanner sharing her samples, documentation, and experience; and a couple skins to work together on to practice different methods. We won’t have a finished product that day due to tanning processes generally being multi-day events, but we may be able to distribute samples later.

    Please bring a knife, an apron or muck clothes, and your lunch. Dress for the weather, with layers, as tanning can be very physical work. 

    We’ll be working outside under cover, with a heated space and hot tea for warming up. Snacks for sharing are always welcome!

    12-4 Saturday, February 18 (4hrs)

    Trillium North Park, Malkin & Thornton, Vancouver

    $25

    Register HERE

  • January Winter Willows 2017

    This January we’ll be hosting two opportunities to learn about tending and working with the extraordinary SALIX (willow) family:

    1/ WOVEN ARCH WORKPARTY!

    All are Welcome

    Bring a snack to share and a cup for tea.

    Help bring in the  Willow crop at MOP. Learn about  coppicing methods for annual harvests,  rose twist knots for bundling, and try your hand at willow splitting. 

    Dress for the weather, rain or shine! Participants can leave with a small bundle of willow for personal projects.

    Saturday January 14 10am-2pm

    Means of Production Garden- corner of East 6th and St Catherines, Vancouver

    winter spring 20162/ Working Willow: From Harvest to Fence and Woven Form: A Workshop

    Willow is an extraordinary weaving material traditionally used anywhere it grows; and with numerous varieties cultivated for many different applications This two-day intensive begins with the harvesting process, touches on weaving with living willow, and culminates in making a Catalan-style tension tray. This workshop is outdoors rain or shine: dress for the weather. Tea is served.

    Instructor: Sharon Kallis

    Saturday 21 January – at Means of Production Garden 10-am-1pm

    Harvest willow in the garden. Learn about stewardship and sustainable harvest methods of pollarding and coppicing. Demonstration of planting clipped willow whips for creating woven fences and other living structures. Participants leave with a small bundle of willow for personal use.

    Sunday 22 January- at Trillium North Park-  10am-1.30pm (under shelter, outdoors)

    Day two involves weaving a tension tray from our local willow. Weaving experience is helpful, but not required, some hand strength is an asset. The small woven trays are beautiful and useful objects, and the method taught is based on the traditional Catalan form.

    $80- EartHand members

    $90 -non members

    max 12 participants

  • Soil to Sky – one very last event…

    It’s almost hard to imagine that the time is upon us, but here it comes: the very last Soil to Sky event, the Final Celebration on Saturday November 5.

    We’ve all learned so much from this project. It didn’t go off the way we expected, but we took the twists and turns with good grace, and found unexpected gifts on the path — new skills, new friends, new ways of working together.

    We hope you’ll come out and join us. We’ll have kite making, for sure; whether we get to fly will depend on the weather, but we’ve been graced with sunny November skies in past years!

    We’ll also have music courtesy of the Hastings Street Band; a warming Tea Tent (with rumours of a vegan-friendly nettle soup courtesy of an executive chef friend of ours…); and a chance to learn to crochet on the fence for the Festoonery project, and try out spinning on our new Walking Wheel and see the Rain Catcher.

    Our Final Celebration is also part of the amazing Heart of the City Festival.

    soil-to-sky-final-web-flyer-oct-31

  • Final Celebration November 5th

    Worlds collide in the best creative way possible on Saturday November 5th as we celebrate the end of the Soil to Sky Project   during the Heart of the City Festival at Trillium North Park from 1- pm- Rain or Shine!

    Including:

    Assembling the final kites with the pieces made over the last 6 weeks at community harvest celebrations, the installation of Melodie Flook’s Festoonery  fence crochet project, Arlin ffrench’s walking wheel shall be in motion, the Hastings Street Band will be playing, we will gather Words for Birds to send up to the sky on a kite or two and  we will have a warming  and nourishing tearoom.

    If weather cooperates we will fly kites too!

    From Soil to Sky- hope you can join us.

    here are a few favourite photos of what we have done so far….

    want to see more photos? check out this flickr link.

    Trillium North Park is located at the corner of Malkin and Thornton Streets on the south edge of Strathcona neighbourhood.

  • Realms of Refuge

    If you want to go fast, go alone;

    If you want to go far, go together.

    We believe that building community and caring for each other is the most important work that we undertake. It is why we teach, why we collaborate and bridge and convene circles of makers; why we make by hand, so that we can share with each other as well as with our ancestors; and why we aspire to know the impact of our actions and art practices, and walk a path of social and ecological justice.

    We’re inspired in this work by other organizations, including Jumblies Theatre, Vancouver Moving Theatre, and Maybelle Arts.

    Sharon is going to be working on aspect of Vancouver Moving Theatre and Jumblies Theatre’s upcoming project in Vancouver: Realms of Refuge. Create alongside her at the Drop-In Art Making sessions on October 20 and 21, 1-4pm; at the session on Thursday October 27, 6:30-8:30; and at the Opening, Saturday October 29, 4-6pm.

    realms-of-refuge-image-onlyrealms-of-refuge-info-page

     

     

  • PROJECT:Weaving Our Social Fabric

    Announcing a new project for the Fall of 2016 at Trillium North Park.

    Three local artists, Melodie Flook, David Gowman and Arlin ffrench, will be joining us at our work space at Trillium. The group projects to be undertaken include collaborative fence weaving using local plants (Festoonery), a handmade rain catchment system carved from local trees (Rain Collectors)  and a walking-spinning wheel for ongoing community use.

    These site-enhancement projects will add to our ongoing creation of a beautiful, inspiring and “made-by-hand’ environment; an oasis of creativity and community in this urban, industrial and reclaimed green-space.

    All of these projects have room for community participation!

    Festoonery: with Melodie Flook

    Throughout September 6-8 pm Mondays and Thursdays

    Thurs Sep 15th, 22nd, 29th and Mon Sep 19th, 26thFestoonery 6 Red Black

    The project includes instruction in rope-making, crocheting, knitting and lace patterning.

    All dates are at Trillium North

     

     

     

     

    Rain Collectors: with David Gowman

    Throughout September 1-5pm  Sundays 11th, 18th, 25th

    all dates FullSizeRenderare at Maclean Park Fieldhouse- 710 Keefer Street, installation at Trillium TBA

    Over the course of three Sundays in September, a rain collection system, made from locally grown/harvested wood, will be built and installed by volunteer participants at Trillium North Park.
    Stage one: Shaping. Using advantageous, pre-bisected empresswood staves, gutters can be hollowed using gouges and mallets. Brackets for mounting can be cut and shaped using hand tools (pull saws, coping saws and chisels).
    Step two: Sealing. Once the parts are shaped, a layer of oil-based sealant is applied to the waterway (in this case, a bright red for aesthetic appeal). Upon curing, a further layer of varnish is applied to all parts prior to installation.
    Step three: Installation. The Rain Collector Project is installed using common hardware (stove bolts and pipe clamps). Anchor holes are drilled into the shipping container walls. Brackets are mounted with wooden backings on the inside of the container. The gutter race down to the rain barrel is mounted onto the fence using wooden brackets, wood screws and pipe clamps.

    Walking Spinning Wheel: with Arlin ffrench

    Arlin is working with a group of spinners as collaborative consultants in the community to create the wheel. Public work dates tba, spinning demonstrations at Final Celebration October 1st

    All of this joint action by participants coming together to work- the time spent in this common pursuit- is the physical action of how we weave our social fabric. Working together in the park we are turning industrial shipping containers into a creative meeting place that fits our aspiration of building a third place – the ‘community outdoor living room.’

    FOR CULTURE DAYS: Join us Saturday October 1st from 1-4pm to participate in the Festoonery project, sample the walking wheel and see the new rain catchment system in place!

    Thanks to Vancouver Park Board: Neighbourhood Matching Fund for making this project possible.

  • Blackberry Butterfly Net- Community Project

    Our whirlwind series of nights at Richmond’s Bridgeport Industrial Park wrapped up this last week with a final celebration of the art work made and now installed on site.

    Blackberry/Butterfly Net

    This temporary sculptural installation is made from invasive blackberry vines harvested from the Bridgeport Industrial Park. Inspired by childhood memories of running in a field with a butterfly net, the artist Sharon Kallis embarked on a creative process exploring the nature of hooped forms, working with seasonal materials. The blackberry fibre rope that comprises the work was made by many local people who participated in a series of artist-led workshops, and the installation is presented in gratitude to the many hands and voices of the community that led to its creation.

     Commissioned as part of the Pollinator Pasture project, Emily Carr University of Art + Design in partnership with the City of Richmond.

    Thank you to the people who brought their hands and voices to this work.

    Jaymie Johnson as project assistant and Kathleen Cathcart as a dedicated rope maker as well as: T. Hesketh, C.Cartiere, N. Strauss, L. Egan, F.Egan, A.Egan, A. Hanemaayer, A. Knowlson, Neena, Nihal, Simarpreet, Marian, B. Jones, Tracy, Amy, K.M Cho, E. Udal, L. Douglas, E. Yon, R.Graham, J.Macdonald, N.Collins, S. Ze, M. Smetzer, L. Smetzer, C. Damian, E. Sarvi, K. Emami, R. Williams, B. Campbell, M. Dee, K. Dee, R. Dee, C. Lam, C. Lam, B.Lam, A. Boomgaardt, M. Boomgaardt, Z. Cilliers, L. Weidenhammer and D. Gowman.

    and thanks to the City of Richmond Operations staff for installation assistance.

    Lori Weidenhammer was our guest speaker on the last work night, and writes beautifully about her experience in the project  here.

    The artwork and project intention literally came together that last night- as we are eating the fruit of this exquisite invasive that many both love and  loath. Though invasive, the fruit is delicious, the bush provides habitat for many birds and is also a prime pollinator food source- and the fibre  was used for weaving traditional beeskeps in Ireland. Using wax from Hives for Humanity ( a gift from the bees) we preserved the rope made from the fibres, and ate berries. The natural cycle for which we are a part- and the net to which we are tied- could not have been more obvious.

    The final celebration took place on August 13 2016

    for more photos of this project visit flickr

    more about this project can be found here