Quilting with the Land was a collaborative art project through which students from University Highlands Elementary on Burnaby Mountain explored their relationship with each other and the land through natural fabric dyeing and flower pressing. Sixty grade four and five students collaborated over eight sessions, with the help of mentor-artists Varsha Gill and Maria Preoteasa, as well as their own elementary teachers Cara Taylor and Christine Yee. The project was organized by the Gibson’s Curator of Learning, Pietro Sammarco.
Engaging in various natural dye techniques with Gill—including indigo, rust, and flower bundle dyeing—provided a way for participants to learn in relationship with plants, animals, and minerals, creating dyed squares that were assembled into a community quilt.
During the workshops with Preoteasa, the students composed pendants using pressed plants that they collect from the SFU Food Forest as a way of learning about the plants growing on Burnaby Mountain.
Alongside the hands-on work, participants engaged in guided conversations about what decolonization means in their lives and how it can be practiced individually and collectively.
Special thanks to Lindsay Holliday (Principal, University Highlands Elementary); Ching-Chiu Lin (Assistant Professor, Arts Education, SFU Faculty of Education); and our volunteers, Anna Anciaume, Oscar Buckingham, Regene Mae Eliseeff, Simran Kaur Sahota, Laura Le, Hannah Reid, and Hannah Robertson.
This workshop was made possible by the generous support of the Tuey Charitable Foundation and Friends of the Gibson.
