Exhibiting Artists:
Anita Cazzola
The Botanical Reclamation project celebrates the resilience of wild plants through naturally dyed textiles. "A Flag for the Plants I" is comprised of fabrics dyed with seven wild plants growing in the former Lafarge Quarry in Guelph. The flag serves as a way to amplify the voices of the plants that have worked so hard to reclaim this degraded site, and is a proud emblem of reclamation. Now installed in the Eastview Pollinator Park, the flag speaks to these same plant species growing in and remediating this former landfill. This movement forms an alliance of plants and a unification of Guelph's ecosystems.
Artist Bio: Anita Cazzola’s work inhabits the intersections between textiles, geology, geography, and the built human environment. Exploring the material and metaphorical complexities of cloth and geological forms, Anita reconsiders the destructive assumptions of decay and disintegration as means of resistance, reclamation and healing. She is currently the Artist in Residence for the city of Guelph, engaging community members in conversation and education around wild plants and natural dyes. anitacazzola.com |
Jenna Kessler
The “Stewardship Quilt”, made from botanically dyed fabric scraps, has been embroidered with quotes from authors who write about land stewardship and what it means to be a care-taker of land. The inspiration for the quilt was born out of Jenna’s inner questions about her own role on the land as an ecological farmer. She hopes the quotes will inspire discussions about land access and justice, and what it means to be a land steward with responsibilities to rehabilitate soil after prolonged abuse through industrial agriculture.
Artist Bio: Jenna Kessler is an ecological farmer and illustrator, taking inspiration from the natural world and the cycles of agricultural seasons. Through her work she asks the viewer questions about human interactions with the earth and also for the viewer to slow their pace and observe the magic of plants. In between growing food and illustrating, she also crafts songs and her poetic new EP, A Still Life, is the culmination of her reflections in musical form. www.jennakessler.com Click here to view a video of Jenna speaking about the "Stewardship Quilt". |
Christina Kingsbury
ReMeidate is a collaboration with Pollination Guelph, poet Anna Bowen and artist Christina Kingsbury in the form of a 3000 square foot seed paper quilt made for the Eastview Landfill. The quilt was sewn together on site with public participation and is now yielding a garden for pollinators and other threatened species. Anna Bowen produced a series of poems about the layered history of the site and the making of the quilt. Part performance, part installation, part ongoing relational engagement with land and people, ReMediate is a gesture of care that imagines reciprocity with a degraded landscape.
Artist Bio: Christina Kingsbury is an interdisciplinary settler artist and educator working on the treaty lands of the Mississaugas of the Credit. Working with themes of ecology and relational care, her participatory practice includes performance, social practise, installation and craft. Christina’s work has been shown in local and international exhibitions and festivals. This year she is excited to be a part of a Lore Arts exhibition, the IF Improvisation Festival and to be collaborating with artist Lisa Hirmer on a project about moths. www.christinakingsbury.com |