Living Threads: Wearable Art Inspired by the Land (Ages 18+)

Saturday, May 9, 12:00 - 3:00 pm in the Art Gallery

Step into the gallery for an immersive textile workshop inspired by the large-scale fibre sculptures of artist Heather Shillinglaw. Based on Indigenous medicinal plants and fungi she forages from the Cold Lake region of Northern Alberta, Heather’s whimsical and larger-than-life works explore how the colonization of the natural world has impacted plants used in traditional Indigenous medicinal practices. This special workshop takes place directly in the gallery, surrounded by Heather’s artwork. The experience begins with a smudging ceremony and an introduction to the themes of the exhibition, creating space for reflection, learning, and exchange. Guided by the artist, participants (ages 18+) will create their own mini quilted textile pin using soft fabrics, hand sewing techniques, and beadwork. Open to art lovers of all experience levels, the workshop celebrates materiality, environmental awareness, and the sharing of knowledge through creative practice. All materials are provided, just bring your curiosity and creativity!

Artist Bio

Shillinglaw is a project-based artist, and member of Cold Lake First Nations, adapting art materials using sewing, painting, and sculptural methods. Growing up in Ministik near Cooking Lake, she now lives in Edmonton, Alberta and is a residential day school survivor. Shillinglaw is proud of her mixed heritage; Nêhiyawêwin /Cree, Dene/Chipewyan, Salteaux/Ojibwe, and Scots/French. Shillinglaw says, ‘My grandmothers spoke many languages, providing key roles in the trade on the ‘Old Indian Trails’ being translators, medicine women and defined our cultural landscape and Canadian/Albertan history. These Stories are shared to me by my mother/Elder Shirley Norris-Shillinglaw of Cold Lake First Nations & a residential school survivor. I make artwork to honor them. By examining our maternal landscapes; I weave together layers of truth- today and yesterday building on this knowledge conceptually. I consult with biologists and ecologists to learn about the change to land ancestors harvested. Through spoils of industry to colonization the artwork created highlights they are landscapes in time...

Shillinglaw shares land-based teachings in art workshops to thousands of students of all ages, throughout her career. She becomes an activist, her voice in sharing through art she hopes to inspire the importance of the natural world to inspire preserving what is left. Exhibiting her work nationally and internationally, she is humble in acknowledging the awards and Grants that help her projects, inclusive of a recent award Leighton Studio stay at the Banff Center for the Arts; the Gerin-Lajoie Studio. Previous exchanges abroad in Paraguay and Argentina working with anthropologists, medicine women of Tobian- Guarani and Mapuche healers in South America, and other shows/cultural connections abroad.

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