ABOUT:

Weaving Water is an ongoing art project engaging the public in community building through hand craft and connection with water. MWMO Artist in Residence Sarah Nassif facilitates hands-on creative experiences that encourage us to see ourselves as vital parts of our watershed systems. The Weaving Water Workshop is both an interactive exhibit at MWMO and in-person workshops for the community to come together and play with fiber, natural indigo dye and cultural cloth traditions from many cultures. Weaving Water Workshops celebrate our ability to solve complex problems through collective work and create beauty through our dependence on and care for water.

November 19, 2022 is the first in a new workshop series for 2022-2023. The next workshop will take place in January. Each workshop will explore different aspects of fiber and indigo dye. Stay tuned for more events TBA in 2023 by subscribing to the Weaving Water Eventbrite collection.

WORKSHOP DETAILS:

Blue & YOU: Celebrating what we've made in fiber & indigo and making the waterside treasure pouch

November 19, 2022: (IN PERSON)

Description:

Bring yourself and any of the items you have created at past Weaving Water Workshops for a sharing celebration of what we’ve made. You may choose to add your work to the Personal Watersheds show or simply share-and-tell. See the Personal Watersheds show in the MWMO galleries. Stations will be set up to explore indigo dyeing, hand stitching and weaving on the SAORI loom. If this is your first Weaving Water Workshop, you are in for a treat to see what others have made as well as try your hand at something new.

Everyone is invited to bring a small natural item --such as a stone or tiny driftwood under 2" square-- that you’ve collected from a waterside location. You can explore the banks of the Mississippi at MWMO or bring something from your favorite river or lake (or ocean!).

Stitch a small pouch to dip in the indigo vat and wear or carry your waterside treasures in.

FEATURED ARTIST/S:

Learn about the newly formed Rice County Indigo Collective — Weaving Water guest artists Judy Saye-Willis, Emily Donovan, Sarah Nassif and others have launched the collective to grow indigo and share knowledge about cultivating and using the Persicaria tinctoria in the upper midwest. Learn more about the Rice County Indigo Collective and what’s in store for the 2023 growing season!

VOLUNTEER FOR WEAVING WATER:

I may need a few people to help me create materials for the final exhibit to realize the full vision. Did you have fun felting? Dyeing with indigo? Stitching? Add on "volunteer" to your ticket or email sarah@sarahnassif.com to learn more about opportunities beyond the free fiber workshops.

LOCATION:

All workshops are scheduled to be in person at MWMO (2522 Marshall St NE). In the case of a COVID-19 situation that calls for building closure, the workshops will be held via Zoom and project kits will be mailed out.

ATTIRE / COVID SAFETY / INTERGENERATIONAL INFO:

Dress in clothes that may be stained. Masks and aprons welcome. Please stay home if you are experiencing any COVID-19 or flu-like symptoms. Thank you for helping us stay healthy! There may be activities indoors and outdoors depending on weather.

We welcome intergenerational learning! If you are under the age of 16, you need to be accompanied by an adult. The is usually a way to engage for all ages -- feeling fiber, dipping them in indigo and experiencing the wonder of the watershed is open to all. Adults will need to guide their youngsters as needed in different activities.

Bring the family and join me on the banks of Lake Superior to play with fiber and organic indigo dye. We’ll talk about how cloth is made, how it takes water in large quantities to process raw materials like wool and cotton before they become our clothes.

Course Overview

Join fiber artist and botanist Sarah Nassif to explore the magic of organic indigo to dye a variety of fibers in shades of blue. Using water from Lake Superior in the process, we will learn how water plays a role in fabric production traditionally and nowadays, and how this affects the health of bodies of water the world round. Try a variety of hands-on activities to get familiar with preparing new and recycled fibers to become cloth. Bundle and dye cloth to create beautiful repeated patterns using Japanese itajame resists. Take a turn at the SAORI loom and try hand sewing techniques. Take home your woven and dyed textiles to continue the family conversation. This class is open to even the littlest craftspeople since all ages can play with fibers!

We will walk through how to set up a mini-indigo vat at home (materials available at NHFS store).

Parents are welcome to bring 1-2 children ages 4+ for one tuition rate and should be prepared to learn alongside their kids in an open studio setting led by the artist. Children ages 12+ are welcome to attend on their own.

This class is full, but you can join the wait list.

The Minneapolis Monarch Festival takes place the first Saturday after Labor Day every year. I’ve been honored to create a poster design and print with thousands of festival goers each year since 2015. I bring along an amazing team of printers and four screenprinting presses and print 1,500 posters in six hours with people of all ages and abilities. Everyone gets to try hands-on screenprinting and hear about the year’s theme. This year we celebrated monarch butterflies and all pollinators.

Make Friends with Pollinators -- Key to 2019 Monarch Festival poster

Weaving Water was shown as part of Ferment, an exhibition of socially engaged craft projects presented alongside Cross Pollination, an upcoming one-day conference hosted by The Socially Engaged Craft Collective, in partnership with the School of Design and the Arts at Minneapolis College in March 2019.

Cross Pollination: an NCECA pre-conference for artists and educators about socially engaged craft, pedagogy, and artistic action.

About this Event

The Socially Engaged Craft Collective, in partnership with the School of Design and the Arts at Minneapolis College, is excited to announce a day of workshops, panels, and participation with Cross Pollination: an NCECA pre-conference for artists and educators about socially engaged craft, pedagogy, and artistic action. 

Cross pollination suggests exchange and interchange, collaborative action and genetic recombination. Craft and education, art and society are each varietals of humanity’s richest plants. We aim to speak to interdisciplinarity, remixing, intersectionality, and novel combinations while considering traditional and emergent theories of making and teaching.

A one-day participatory conference experience, Cross Pollination will incorporate expert voices from both craft and social engagement perspectives. Participants will find resources and emerging ideas for their art practices and classrooms through panel discussions, lectures and interactive learning experiences. Breakout sessions will focus on the following: Communities (Engaging in Cross-Sector Collaboration); Pedagogy (Engagement and Collaboration in Learning); Idea Generation (Socially Engaged Craft in Practice); and Logistics (the “How To” of Socially Engaged Craft including Ethics and Sustainability).

Date: Conference Tuesday, March 26, 2019; 8:30 am - 5:30 pm 

Preview Reception of “Ferment” 5:30 - 6:30 pm

Schedule: 

8:30-9:15 am Registration

9:30-10:30 Keynote Conversation with Seitu Jones sponsored by the ACC

11:00-12:30 Morning Breakout Sessions (Community and Pedagogy)

12:30-2:30 Lunch and Table Sessions

2:45-4:15 Afternoon Breakout Sessions (Idea Generation and Logistics)

4:30-5:30 Closing Remarks with Marcus Young and Mary Baumstark

5:30-6:30 “Ferment” Preview Reception and Participatory Experience

Breakout sessions will focus on the following: Communities (Engaging in Cross-Sector Collaboration with Rachel Breen, Sarah Schultz, and Jun-Li Wang); Pedagogy (Engagement and Collaboration with Anna Metcalfe, Jess Hirsch, and Witt Siasoco); Idea Generation (Socially Engaged Craft in Practice with Forrest Gard and Cheyenne Rudolph); and Logistics (the “How To” of Socially Engaged Craft including Ethics and Sustainability with Nicole Gugliotti, Peter Haakon Thompson, Habiba El Sayed, and Courtney Leonard).

This Event is sponsored by MCTC, SECC, and the ACC

Location: Minneapolis College, near Loring Park and the Minneapolis Convention Center in downtown Minneapolis

Cost: $75 general, $40 student

Online ticket sales will end Tuesday, March 12. Ticket can be purchased at the door. Same day: $85 general, $50 student

The SECC is currently soliciting donations to sponsor registrations for those in financial need. DONATE on the registration page. 

There are currently 2 scholarships available for BIPOC people interested in attending. Please contact the SECC for more information. sociallyengagedcraftcollective@gmail.com

**A certificate of completion from the School of Design and the Arts at Minneapolis College will be available to educators interested in professional development credit. 

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Building a Neighborhood Together is a community felting project to map a changing neighborhood. Participants get a chance to try both needle and wet felting to complete an element of the neighborhood: streets, the Mississippi River, and all the creatures, vehicles and buildings found in the community. All of the elements will be assembled into a 6’x8’ felted map of the Prospect Park neighborhood.

Several chances to participate are planned, and the next is at Harvest Fest in the Prospect Park Neighborhood. All supplies are provided by Textile Center. Work directly with the artist to contribute to this community public art piece.

Funded by Prospect Park Co-op Legacy Fund and Textile Center Supporters.