Using Textile Arts in STEAM Learning for K-12

Putting on my librarian hat for a moment…

Art is often the neglected one in this acronym for 21st century learning known as STEAM– Science, Math, Engineering, Art and Math. But textile art is that fun tactile medium that everyone can join in on and have lots of fun WHILE applying so many other learning disciplines! I did a presentation for staff at the public library and then I taught a room full of librarians and other staff that had never felted in their lives how to wet felt with soap and water. It was all around enlightening and squishy. Below are the slides from the presentation and I’m happy to chat about this and help make textile art part of your library or school’s STEAM programming. I tell you, if I was taught math through knitting I probably would have been much better at it. It’s the application and hands-on experimentation that really makes kids and teens LOVE making through textile arts. Oh and it’s eco-friendly and supplies are inexpensive. Seniors were happy to volunteer their time to pass on knowledge and keep these traditions and their powerful learning potential alive. Happy textiling!


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Girls’ Night Out Beginner Knitting Workshop

There’s still a few spaces left for the workshop in East Vancouver this March!! This small hands on workshop is great for beginners or nearly so and you’ll learn to make your very own head wrap that will keep those ears warm in stlye. See the poster below for details and we’ll see you there 😀

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Debut @ Vines Art Festival!

knit-piece-imageFind us on stage at the Vines Eco-Art Festival Sat. Aug. 19, 2017 from 1:00-3:00 PM in Trout Lake Park across from the beach area. We’ll be debuting an exciting “Knit Piece”installation and performance that is participatory 🙂 Come watch and help install knit anatomical hearts and an umbilical cord, symbolizing universal inter-connection, life cycles, resistance and solidarity with all living things and Mother Earth! Sound art included.

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Cedar Cottage Slow Textile Summer Workshops

felt-in-the-forestJoin us for some fun skill-sharing green textile workshops next month in East Vancouver parks! This initiative supports BC small heritage sheep Continue reading “Cedar Cottage Slow Textile Summer Workshops”

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Please Help! Etsy, Illegal US Sanctions and Artful Grassroots Empowerment in Havana

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Etsy says they’re just following the law but in effect starving children and a community of much needed funds for Proyecto Muraleando. This grassroots community placemaking initiative provides hundreds of children in inner-city Havana the opportunity to unleash the creative, and live with dignity and hope, surrounded by murals and inspiration. I had the pleasure of working with this project as a visiting artist earlier this year.  Continue reading “Please Help! Etsy, Illegal US Sanctions and Artful Grassroots Empowerment in Havana”

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Planting Manuka in the Rain: My New Zealand Farmsteading Adventure

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It’s a wet and windy as we drive up the long country road. Sheep huddle on flooding paddocks. This place is really rural I think to myself. But most of New Zealand is. When a “journalist” visited the farm to write a piece in the paper and heard that no agri-chemicals and fertilizers were being used, that grazing was being done in a carbon sequestering manner, they made sure not to let the story go to press. It certainly contradicted their advertisers’ agendas. Here lies an account of my time WWOOFing (worldwide opportunities on organic farms) on New Zealand’s north island in the Hawke’s Bay region. The farm I was at is known throughout the country for its use of permaculture principles, regenerative ag and holistic land management. The Family Farm at Mangarara Sheep Station puts right livelihood into practice, along with land stewardship and slow money. The Hart family opened their doors to me for 2 weeks where I also spent considerable time helping out and learning an immense amount from the wonderful Maori family renting and farmsteading on the property. I am so grateful to have had this adventure. Continue reading “Planting Manuka in the Rain: My New Zealand Farmsteading Adventure”

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Stitching Resistance: women who make

hammockA compañera belonging to the EZLN movement in Chiapas, Mexico weaves on a traditional Mayan backstrap loom

“Making connects me with with so much in a way that gives me autonomy and hope for the planet” –Manuela Hernandez, Tsotsil Elder, Chiapas

I once read that women do two thirds of the world’s work. Work that often remains invisible, under compensated and simply expected by society. Throughout my Latin American travels I met artisans that make with their hands their whole lives, slowly carrying on ancient traditions of beauty and culture, that stitch resistance toward a dominant culture that rejects indigenous, handmade one-of-a-kind and small is beautiful ethos. Continue reading “Stitching Resistance: women who make”

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Artisan Profile: Fernando Cruz, Sancti Spiritus, Cuba

IMG_20160229_160710652_HDRI’d  heard about him through word of mouth. He uses local clay and had opened his own workshop. So I’m on a bike in the scorching afternoon sun and the dusty dirt roads are beginning to all look the same. Amongst the brighly coloured cinder block buildings and helpful abuelas taking in their laundry, I see it at last: a cluttered clay workshop where topless men waft cigarette smoke and work boisterously.  Continue reading “Artisan Profile: Fernando Cruz, Sancti Spiritus, Cuba”

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Whites Upcycled Project (WUP)

6-bundles-web-1024x822With approximately 12 million tons of textile waste being generated each year in North America amounting to approximately 68 lbs of waste per household per year —85% of which winding up in landfills, it’s time we both curb consumption and upcycle what we’re not wearing! Continue reading “Whites Upcycled Project (WUP)”

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New Digital Downloads on Etsy

Learn how to make these original designs: Etsy Shop: API reponse should be HTTP 200
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