Embroidering is something I have never done before, as I’m sure it was for many in our class as well as community members. Bringing this concept of embroidering in to our theme of harvest was really neat. For myself, being a student at Northland, along with many of us, we have a deep connection to the environment, and harvest based ideas and concepts. This is why bringing something unfamiliar (Embroidering and beading) was a fine touch and enabled us to learn a new skill.
Of course these sewing circles required full embodiment from all of us, class members, other Northland students, and other community members. The stitch by stitch of embroidering required our full attention to the work we were creating with our own hands. When people came to the sewing circles they picked up a panel that spoke to them for whatever reason. Maybe it was something they were familiar with or maybe it was something of harvest that they had never seen before. Either way it got people thinking about the concept of harvest and hopefully drew a connection between the farmers and their harvest.
For me personally this was a very healing process. I love working with my hands and creating something beautiful. Not only was it nice to go to the sewing circles to get a break from my other classes homework, it turned out to be very relaxing for me. My Grandmother used to embroider all the time; Everything from dish cloths to sweaters. This project has inspired me to become more familiar with embroidering and perhaps carry on the tradition that my grandma cherished so much.
Bringing people together for these sewing circles involved numerous people from our class, as well as people from the outside community. And then by displaying our project in the Alvord Theater we allowed even more people to become involved and part of our project by viewing the harvest creation, and start discussions around art and harvest.
I suppose I figured the public participation would be much greater for the sewing circles, but that could be due to not enough promoting on our end or just not enough willingness and time from others. Either way, I think this idea of harvest and project as a whole is something that will be able to grow and build over time. Just like the first sewing circle led to the second and so on, the creation of embroidered material is something that will keep growing and creating dialogue throughout the Northland community and elsewhere. This growth and interest in harvest is what I believe is the catalyst for societal change.
artforsocietalchange 