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ISBN: 9780865717787

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Common Threads

Weaving Community through Collaborative Eco-Art

Common Threads is a unique guide to engaging community members in communal handwork for the greater good. Author Sharon Kallis provides a wealth of ideas for:

* Working with unwanted natural materials, with an emphasis on green waste and invasive species

* Visualizing projects that celebrate the human element while crafting works of art or environmental remediation

* Creating opportunities for individuals to connect with nature in a unique, meditative, yet community-oriented way.

Contributors

Sharon Kallis

Sharon Kallis is a Vancouver artist who specializes in working with unwanted natural materials. Involving community in connecting traditional hand techniques with invasive species and garden waste, she creates site-specific installations that become ecological interventions. Through her work, Sharon has engaged with groups and studied plants and techniques across North America, as well as in Central America and Europe. Some of her recent projects include leading The Urban Weaver Project and Aberthau: flax=fibre+food. She brings together for collaborative projects fiber artists, park ecologists, First Nations basket weavers, city gardeners and the general community.

Chapter Title Contents Contributors Pages Year Price

Preview

 By recognizing that human culture is a part of the ecosystem — not separate — and by creatively reimagining what symbiotic relationships of local production and consumption might look … 6 $0.60

Preview

 In most environmental stewardship practice, conversations about invasive and native species are inclined to dualistic thinking: invasive plant = bad. But what if invasive species could be useful … 10 $1.00

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 Beyond food, what if we began to make some of the things that we need for ourselves again as a cultural and social norm? And what if our cities and towns supported this behavior; what would that … 17 $1.70

Preview

 A “working landscape” in the city can be planned for use by the people who live there. Newly articulated land use options coupled with accessing the green waste from both invasive … 32 $3.20

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 Most creative projects made with green waste and natural materials are meant to have a short life-span and then return to the earth. This goes against everything a Western European sensibility … 14 $1.40

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 So how can this interest in getting together for a common purpose fit within a concept of celebrating life’s milestones? How do we support each other in those moments when we need our … 10 $1.00

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 This chapter explores developing events that are both environmentally aware and nurturing for humanity. 30 $3.00

Preview

 Weaving unmistakably weaves us all together regardless of what culture we come from. There are three kinds of woven cloth that can be found worldwide — everything comes back to tabby, twill … 12 $1.20

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 Embracing invasive plants as a material resource for hand-based technologies makes so much sense; we bring land stewardship practices to the heart of our making. It is not about choosing a plant … 22 $2.20

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 As you begin to work with natural fibers you will realize how much of the knowledge is transferable from one fiber to another. As you pick up a new plant, first try what you already know. … 51 $5.10

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 When I am building a project I try to have entry points for all three (head, heart, hand) so that people can enter from whichever is their comfort zone: • Someone comes into the project … 12 $1.20

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 In order for projects described in this book to have happened, a strong relationship with municipal partners was required. Issues such as delivery, storage and material access have been hang-up … 30 $3.00